Fleet Space Announces its First Exosphere Deployment in Africa
Fleet Space has announced the first deployment of its ExoSphere satellite-based mineral exploration system in Africa in a new partnership with Resonance Frequency Exploration Group (RFEG), based in the USA, with operations in Accra, Ghana.
Under a licensing and technology cooperation agreement finalised in December 2022, Fleet Space will supply its Geode portable sensors, which use Ambient…
What Should We Expect from the African Space Industry in 2023?
Since the turn of the 20th century, the African space industry has witnessed year-on-year progress. This growth is visible from the increase in government and commercial companies' participation, human capital resource, budgetary allocation and investment towards developing infrastructure and other complimenting solutions.
In addition, Africa's space ecosystem is rapidly maturing into a…
2022 in Review – Rwanda Space Programme
In 2022, Rwanda focused on collaborations and cooperation with governments and private organisations with more developed space programmes. They have made significant strides in knowledge development since the development of the Rwanda Space Agency in 2020. The value of international agreements such as Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) has been instrumental in setting a steady foundation for…
2022 in Review – Egypt Space Programme
Space activities in Egypt can be traced back to 1961. However, the Egyptian Space Agency (EgSA) only existed once President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi established the agency after passing Law No.3 of 2018, which the House of Representatives approved in 2017. The agency's purpose is to design, manufacture, and launch satellites from the country and be responsible for developing space sciences and…
AFRIGIST Appoints New Executive Director
The Governing Council of the African Regional Institute for Geospatial Information Science and Technology (AGRIGIST) has appointed Professor Lazarus Mustapha Ojigi of the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) as the Executive Director (ED)/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of AFRIGIST for a fixed term of four years, effective from 06 January 2023.
Professor Ojigi would be taking…
OneWeb and Airtel Africa Collaborate to Provide Enhanced Connectivity Services in Africa
OneWeb has announced the signing of a partnership agreement with Airtel Africa, a leading provider of telecommunications and mobile money services across Africa. This strategic agreement will help to deliver OneWeb’s high-speed, low-latency LEO connectivity services to government and enterprise customers across vast swathes of the continent.
The partnership will focus on delivering satellite…
Excerpts from the GEO WEEK 2022; GMES & Africa Programme in Focus
Ghana hosted the Group on Earth Observations GEO Week 2022, the 18th annual meeting of GEO, from 31 October to 4 November 2022. The Group on Earth Observations (GEO) is a global partnership that strives to make these observations freely available worldwide. It also brings together partnerships that produce Earth observation-based tools and services to enable better decisions, policies and…
USAID, NASA, and ICRISAT Announce the Launch of Phase 2 of SERVIR-West Africa
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), in joint partnership with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), has launched the second phase of the SEVIR West Africa; a satellite imagery technology that connects space to villages through satellite data to combat critical challenges in food security, water resources, weather and climate, land use, and disasters…
Excerpts from the 13th AARSE International Conference
Between 24 – 28 October 2022, the 13th AARSE International Conference (AARSE 2022) was held in Kigali, Rwanda to focus on Earth observations and geospatial science to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. The five-day event themed “Space and geospatial technologies for the Africa we want'' was organised by the African Association of Remote Sensing of the Environment (AARSE) and the Institut…
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…