Why Africa Must Move Beyond Nano-Satellites Toward Operational Space Capability
Africa has been described, liberally and repeatedly, as nascent, budding, growing, and emerging in its space capabilities. These adjectives have clung to the continent's space programmes for decades, like labels on products perpetually stuck in beta. Yet here we are in 2026, and the pattern invites reflection: countries continue launching nanosatellites, those miniaturised satellites no bigger…
Uganda Hosts First Workshop for the African Development Satellite Project
Delegates and space agency representatives from Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Sudan, and Uganda during the inaugural African Development Satellite Project workshop in Uganda. Source: EgSA / Dr Ayman Ahmed
Last week, Uganda hosted the inaugural African Development Satellite Project (AfDev-Sat) workshop, marking a significant milestone in Africa’s collaborative efforts to advance space…
Building Africa’s Space Future: An Engineer’s Journey Through Egypt’s Satellite Training Programme
Participants at the AfDev-Sat training programme in Egypt. Source: Kola Egbeyemi
Between January 13 and 23, the Egyptian Space Agency (EgSA) hosted a training programme under the African Development Satellite Initiative (AfDev-Sat). This initiative brought together 21 engineers and specialists from 20 African nations, marking a significant milestone in strengthening indigenous satellite…
African Nations Prepare to Launch Four New Satellites in 2025
The Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M rocket carrying ZIMSAT-2 and 54 other satellites before launch. Source: Russian News Agency
In 2024, African space-faring nations strengthened their national space capabilities with four successful satellite launches, advancing the infrastructure needed to realise their distinct space development objectives.
Egypt’s NexSat-1, developed in partnership with…
EgSA Launches AfDev-Sat Training Programme with Engineers from 20 African Countries
From (L-R) Dr Ayman Ahmed, Acting Senior Director of Space Programmes at EgSA, H.E. Dr Tidiane Ouattara, President of the Council of the African Space Agency, EgSA’s CEO, Dr Sherif Sedky, Deputy Secretary-General of the Egyptian Agency of Partnership for Development, Ambassador Osama Elhady and Dr Domenico De Martinis, Scientific Attaché of the Italian Embassy in Egypt at the AfDev-Sat training…
Growing the African Space Agency from the Ground Up: A Case Study of Nigeria
One of the key takeaways from the African Union Commission’s Baseline study regarding the operationalisation of the African Space Agency is that the African space industry faces an unparalleled technological gap, making it extremely difficult to drive inclusion and enhance economic growth in various industry sectors. This holds for all countries, with varying degrees, as we move from coast to…
Who Will Launch a Satellite in 2024?
Egypt opened Africa’s satellite launch account in 2024 with the successful launch of NExSat-1, an experimental Earth Observation satellite designed for remote sensing by Egyptian engineers and Germany’s Berlin Space Technologies (BST). Nexsat-1 brings the total number of African satellites to 59.
Kindly check here for a detailed overview of all 59 satellite projects
In the past year, entities…
What to Expect from the African Space Industry in 2024
2023 witnessed monumental strides for Africa's space aspirations, as many nations advanced their exploration programmes - graduating mainly from initiation and planning phases into execution. Milestones like Egypt launching several satellites for integrated applications, Djibouti’s first satellite launch, and players like Senegal establishing a national space agency cemented an upward continental…
Why African Space Cooperation Groups have had a Minimal Impact on the Industry Growth
The premise of bilateral and multilateral space agreements in Africa is to increase infrastructural development in the space industry by creating synergies rather than duplicating efforts. In addition, these groups help transfer knowledge and technical know-how amongst their members to ensure that space science is built from the ground up. However, several space cooperation groups have not met…
African Satellite Development Initiative Begins Satellite Training in Egypt.
In 2019, the Egyptian Space Agency (EgSA) invited Heads of Agencies from Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria and Sudan to launch a pan-African satellite project dubbed the African Development Satellite Initiative (AfDev-Sat). The project was initiated in the light of the integration of African countries in the field of space – with Egypt hosting the African Space Agency having won the bid in…