The rise of the African space industry, an opportunity for the development of the continent

Small step for Ethiopia, big leap for Africa. Addis Ababa launched its first satellite in space on Friday December 20. A historic achievement, which crowns a record year 2019 for the African space industry.

"This (launch) will be a major step in our historic journey to prosperity," said Ethiopian Deputy Prime Minister Demeke Mekonnen.

Eight African satellites were launched this year, breaking the record set in 2017, according to Temidayo Oniosun, managing director of Space in Africa, a Nigerian company that tracks African space programs.

After Egypt, South Africa, Algeria, Nigeria, Ghana, Angola, Kenya, Morocco, Sudan and Rwanda, Ethiopia is the 11th country to join the still restricted circle African countries to have sent satellites into space. A booming space industry that represents a potential development tool for the continent.

Birth of the African Space Agency

"Two years at the space level is very short," said Sékou Ouédraogo, president of the African Aeronautics and Space Organization (AASO). And yet, since 2017, four new African countries have been able to put their first satellite into orbit.

"In the imagination of Africans, it is much less inaccessible than it was a few years ago," he adds. In fact, 2019 was also the year of the creation of the African Space Agency (ASA), whose headquarters are based in Cairo, Egypt, the very first country on the continent to send a satellite into space. , in 1998. According to the engineer, it is already an institutional body in the same way as NASA (United States) or Cnes (France).

"The idea is to set a course for the African space strategy, pool resources and facilitate collaboration with other nations."

Navigation and positioning, satellite communication, Earth observation, astronomy and space sciences are all axes for which the ASA is in charge, in interconnection with the African Union's agenda 2063 (master plan to transform the Africa as a world power of the future). So many themes that can contribute to the development of African countries.

"The largest nations in the world are the space nations," says Sékou Ouédraogo. "There is a direct correlation between the power of a country and its spatial capacity".

The African Union announced in January the creation of a space agency. Objective: send an "afronaute" by 2030! 🚀 pic.twitter.com/wQPmqaRNTE

Ethiopia, the last African country to launch a device into space, has focused its national resources on aeronautics. The country already has one of the largest airlines in Africa, but also pilot training centers and engine repair centers. Space is another step in this strategy of developing leadership in aeronautics.

But beyond putting the satellite into orbit, what matters most today in Africa, according to Sékou Ouédraogo, it is "the applications", he says. "We must master the use of the results, and train engineers who are capable of using satellite images for development purposes".

Access to space, to access development

If the launch of a satellite by African countries is important from a geostrategic point of view, it is especially because it initiates a whole policy of training specialists, and represents a first step towards the launch of other satellites or a larger device (as Morocco has done).

However, speaking of "space conquest" would be an abuse of language according to Sékou Ouédraogo. For the latter, the development of African space is not a conquest, it is above all a "desire to access space and the opportunities that space tools give for its development".

Find water, improve agriculture, prevent locust attacks in plantations, fight against desertification, observe the variation of rivers, the level of lakes, develop territories, stop deforestation (especially in the Congo forest )… "We have engineers who make the satellites, we have engineers who make launchers, we can send these satellites which, then, will send data", insists the president of the AASO. "But this data must then be processed and used for our own needs. This is my priority."

A priority for which African countries are supported, mainly by the big space powers which participate in the development of African industry by providing financial and human aid.

The Angolan satellite, launched in 2017, was designed by Russian engineers; Ghana had benefited from Japanese aid, and the launch of the Moroccan satellites is done in collaboration with France.
Same pattern for Ethiopia, which has just sent its ETRSS-1 several hundred kilometers above the earth: the latter was developed by the Chinese Academy of Space Technology which has trained around twenty Ethiopian scientists.

The data provided by this equipment should make it possible to improve knowledge of the country's agricultural, forestry and mining resources, but also to contribute to a better response to climate disasters.

Today, 41 African satellites are in orbit. A process that is part of a real development plan, according to Sékou Ouédraogo. "When decision-makers realize the value of these tools, it's half the job done."

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