Following the realisation of the adverse effects of climate change on human lives and properties, Botswana’s Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism (MENT) and China’s  Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in November 2020 to strengthen their efforts in research focused on designing systems that can improve resilience to climate change.

To this effect, MEE recently completed the design of the Botswana Meteorological Satellite Transportable Ground System (BMTGS), while the development of the subsystems is currently underway. The satellite is expected to be delivered to Botswana by the end of 2022.

Furthermore, the BMTGS can automatically track geostationary meteorological satellites including the FY-2H, polar-orbiting meteorological satellites such as FY-3D, EOS-Terra, EOS-Aqua, NOAA18 and receive meteorological remote sensing data which can be used for applications in drought monitoring, vegetation monitoring, fire point detection, land surface temperature monitoring and aerosol monitoring of Botswana. 

The BMTGS is composed of a receiving antenna vehicle, data processing shelter vehicle and power trailer. In addition, it is a set of convenient-to-operate systems based on the vehicle-mounted mobile platform with manoeuvrability. Also, Botswana engineers and technicians will be trained in-ground system design, operation, and maintenance to ensure the system’s efficient operation once it’s functional.

The BMTGS will be designed and developed by Space Star Technology Co., Ltd (SSTC), one of the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) subsidiaries. SSTC has a comprehensive engineering capacity on satellite communication, remote sensing and navigation applications and is focused on extending partnerships in the African region to support the “China-Africa Space Cooperation” and “South-South Cooperation on Addressing Climate Change”.