Ethiopia to launch its 3rd and 4th satellites into space.
Ethiopia launches its first-ever satellite just a year after fast-tracking plans to join Africa’s race to space.
The launch date was postponed by three days due to bad weather earlier this week.
China Daily reports, “The Ethiopian Remote Sensing Satellite-1, or ETRSS-1, was sent into space by a Long March 4B carrier rocket from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in North China’s Shanxi province.”
The excitement among those gathered to watch was palpable.
#Ethiopia #Launch_Of_ETRSS_1_Satellite_In_To_Space #Congratulations
It may be tough, but We never run away from taking the challenges. Today’s achievement is the result of all the hard work and fearless spirit.
👏👏@DrGetahun pic.twitter.com/kBcOfjAxxt— Lelise Neme (@Lelise_Neme) December 20, 2019
And that is large because of the large cohort of Ethiopian scientists and engineers who have been involved in the project.
Ethiopian and Chinese aerospace engineers built the 70kg satellite in China. The project involved 20 Ethiopian aerospace engineers, and 60 PhD and master’s students.
Ethiopia has 21 scientists who have worked on the ETRSS1 project of which 5 are women. This shows a tremendous progress in empowering our women in particular and our scientists in general. #TheSpaceGeneration #Ethiopia #ETRSS1 pic.twitter.com/1tF7uebCh6
— Ethiopian Remote Sensing Satellite – ETRSS (@Etrss_ethiopia) December 11, 2019
China contributed 75% of the funds to build the $8m satellite.
Ethiopia has wanted to build and launch its own satellite for many years. In late 2018, the plans picked up steam amidst wider reforms of Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s new government.
- “The satellite will provide all the necessary data on changes in climate and weather-related phenomena that would be utilised for the country’s key targets in agriculture, forestry as well as natural resources protection initiatives,” Ethiopian President Sahle-Work Zewde told the country’s parliament in October.
In History, every generation in Ethiopia has a first in technological advancements. From the first telephones in Ethiopia to the first television station, we have made leaps and many are witness to that.
This is our time. We are #TheSpaceGeneration. pic.twitter.com/01yCvXNXHt— Ethiopian Remote Sensing Satellite – ETRSS (@Etrss_ethiopia) December 13, 2019
In January 2020, Ethiopia will also break ground on a satellite manufacturing, assembly, integration, and testing (MAIT) facility. A French company will build the facility with funding from the European Investment Bank (EIB).
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Ethiopia’s satellite facility will be the third of its kind on the continent, after those in Algeria and South Africa. Egypt and Nigeria also have plans to build similar facilities.
Ethiopia’s MAIT facility will take 30 months to complete. It will position Ethiopia as East Africa’s space hub while cutting the costs of using satellites from other countries.
- “We are spending a lot in foreign currency for transponder satellite renting… In order to avoid such huge recurrent spending in the future, we are now working to build fully our own satellite within three to four years time,” said Getahun Mekuria, Ethiopia’s Innovation and Technology Minister earlier this week.
In 2017, the African Union outlined a space policy for its members.
From just one country on the continent with a satellite (South Africa, 1999), there are now more than two dozen satellites owned by African countries.
In East Africa, Ethiopia will join Kenya and Rwanda as countries with satellites in orbit.
The continental space agency will be headquartered in Egypt and will work to bring even more countries on board.
- “The ultimate goal is: How can we use this technology to solve our challenges, for example in infrastructure, agriculture, environment and disaster management?” Islam Abou El-Magd at the Egypt Space Agency told the media in April.
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There is also a possibility that the satellite could be used to enhance surveillance, especially given how Ethiopia’s government has previously deployed such systems.
The collapse of Ethiopia’s social surveillance system also raises the possibility that satellites could be used to monitor citizens.
The bottom line: While Ethiopia reaches for the stars, it’s turning its gaze towards its own country to improve weather forecasting and, possibly, watch its critics.
