Nigeria to launch two new space satellites in three years

Nigeria ’s ambition of sending a manned mission to the moon in 23 years may sound like a pipe dream. But with the country set to launch two new space satellites in three years, with a communication satellite to be launched next week and an earth observation satellite in 2009, the dream seems on the way to realisation.

Having earlier successfully launched its first space satellite, known as Nigersat-1, an earth observation satellite, in September 2003, Nigeria, the second country in sub-Saharan Africa after South Africa to do so, will launch in a few days the communication satellite which was built in China that will allow the remotest villages in the country to have access to the internet and improve the communication infrastructure in the country. The communication satellite named NIGCOMSAT2 which was built over a period of 28 months is to be launched in China .

The other satellite, an earth observation satellite, is to be built by a British firm and will be launched in 2009. Head of Nigeria ’s space agency, National Space Research and development Agency (NASRDA), Professor Robert Boroffice said the country’s space programme has been a success story so far. ““We have the capacity to service more than 20 African countries. Our transponders will be available for sale and the plan is to ensure sufficient return on investment as soon as possible,” he explained. “I want to assure Nigerians that after the NIGCOMSAT2, we will commence activities for the launching of NIGSAT 2 already slated for 2009.

“We are also selling these images all over the world, very few in Africa, most of them are sold to Europe and America and we have been recognised as a leading space agency in Africa, as a result of which many international organisations and United nations that need African voice have been contacting us and inviting us to represent the interest of Africa. “We are training people. We are in collaboration with other organisations where we train our staff, even in marketing. We have a very aggressive capacity building programme because we believe that for these programmes to be sustainable, we must have the indigenous capacity to run and manage them.”

“I want to assure Nigerians that after the NIGCOMSAT2, we will commence activities for the launching of NIGSAT 2 already slated for 2009. For most Nigerians however, it’s the second earth observation satellite which will be launched in 2009 that will advance the frontiers of the country’s aggressive space programme which began in 1998 when the country’s space agency was established with the initial budget of US$93 million. The contract for the supply of the earth observation satellite already named NigerSat-2 was signed last November between representatives of Nigerian government and Surrey satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) of England which supplied the first satellite.

The NigerSat-2 will be a high resolution 300 kilogramme satellite modeled after China ’s recently launched Beijing-1. It will carry two payloads with a high resolution imager providing 2.5-metre panchromatic and 5-metre 4 band multispectral data with a swath of 20 kilometres and a 32-metre resolution multispectral imager providing data in 4 spectral bands with a wide swath of 300 kilometres.

The contract also include the supply of a ground system and image processing software to enable operation as well as a training programme for Nigerian scientists. NigerSat-2 will deliver 100 to 400 geo-processed images daily over its 7-year mission lifetime. “This contract is the next step in Nigeria ’s long term plans to use space for the benefit of Nigeria and Africa ,” says Professor Boroffice, head of Nigeria ’s space agency. “We are convinced that space provides a cost effective means of addressing many of the issues facing African nations such as mapping, water resources management, agricultural land use monitoring, population estimation, health hazard monitoring and disaster mitigation and monitoring.”

Nigeria currently uses NigerSat-1, with the standard Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC) design. It has the capacity to image scenes as large as 640 x 560 kilometres providing medium-resolution data which is being used to monitor pollution, land use and other medium-scale phenomena. It carries an optical imaging payload which can provide 32-m ground resolution with a swath width of more than 640 kilometres.

The space programme has been attacked by critics who complain that the money spent on space project should have been spent on alleviating poverty in a country where more that 70 per cent of its people live on less than one US dollar per day. But protagonists of the space programme contend that it is just another way of addressing the issue of poverty using modern technology. According to Professor Boroffice, space technology can lift Nigeria out of poverty by serving as a catalyst for socio-economic development.

Meanwhile, Nigeria ’s hope of making money from its programme is already materialising. An Arab company has just recently signed a US$250 million agreement with NASRDA to use the communication satellite, while information has it that some West African countries have also signed up to have access to images generated by NigerSat-1. Nigeria is expected to earn 18.06 billion ($140 million Dollars) annually on direct sales and servicing of transponder from the communication satellite (NigComSat-1). The project which signifies the beginning of economic and technological emancipation of Africa will help save Nigeria and Africa, of annual capital flight of $100 million and $660 million respectively.

Engineer Hammed Rufai, Managing Director of NigComSat-1 who disclosed this in Abuja during a press briefing on the launching of the NigComSat-1 said the country is expected to earn N9.4 billion ($70 million) from direct sale of transponder and N9.4 billion from servicing, annually.

Given the scope of Nigeria ’s space plan, what has already been achieved may just be a child’s play. According to Nigeria ’s Science and Technology Minister, Professor Turner Isoun, the space programme is expected to grow in leaps and bounds culminating in Nigeria sending a manned mission to the moon by 2030.

Source: By Abiodun Raufu Nigerian Tribune