The future of space programs in Africa cooperation with China and Russia

Africa is a huge continent. Its area is more than 30 million square kilometers, equivalent to the area of ​​China, the United States of America, and Canada combined, or 55 countries the size of France.

Its population is approximately 1.5 billion, or 18% of the world's population.

According to forecasts by the African Development Bank, five African countries will be among the 10 fastest growing economies in the world in 2023-2024.

At the same time, Africa is not commonly associated with high-tech fields, such as astronautics. Any news about concluding contracts with African countries is seen as surprising. However, Africa has a long history of space exploration.

Observatories and satellites

The first observatory on the continent appeared in the Cape Town area of ​​South Africa by order of the British King George IV in 1820. Local observatories made it possible to map previously unknown regions of space, which could only be seen from the Southern Hemisphere. In addition, it made a significant contribution to the study of the climate of our planet.

Meanwhile, Africa of course could not join the space race in the twentieth century. While the Soviet Union and the United States competed to launch the first satellite, there were only nine independent countries in Africa, and only three of them were sub-Saharan: Ghana, Liberia, and Ethiopia. By the time of Yuri Gagarin's launch, there were more than 20 of them, but the weak economy and the presence of social and political problems did not allow any of the African countries to introduce a serious space program.

So far, 15 countries on the continent have launched a total of 59 satellites into space. True, all launches so far have been carried out with the help of operators from other countries. Satellites were also produced outside the countries that launched them. According to a report by Space Hubs Africa, 125 new satellites are scheduled to be launched by 2025.

Egypt launched the first satellite in 1998, and the last one was launched by Djibouti in November 2023. For most African countries, they are primarily Earth remote sensing satellites, and are used to monitor the country’s lands and cadastral assessment, prevent fires and illegal logging, and survey the area in the event of disasters. Industrial natural.

Egypt is ahead of the entire continent

The most advanced space power in Africa today is Egypt. From 1998 until the present, Cairo has obtained 10 satellites, 9 of which are in Earth orbit. These satellites included five foreign-made geostationary communications devices, two low-orbit cubesats, and three satellites specially designed for remote sensing of the Earth.

Russia and China played a major role in the Egyptian space program. Beijing provided Cairo with three financial grants totaling about $150 million, and with this money construction of the Egyptian Space City began, which is scheduled to be completed by 2026. It will include 23 buildings, including the buildings of the Egyptian Space Agency, the African Space Agency, the Projects Center, and the satellite assembly station. Industrial Area, Integration and Test Center, Ground Control Station, Egyptian Space Academy, and Space Museum. From here, Egypt will create its own spacecraft, which will gradually increase the degree of localization. Currently, the “MisrSat 3” and “Nexat 1” remote sensing satellites are already being developed under China’s supervision.

Russia is creating EgyptSat series satellites for Egypt, which are dedicated to remote sensing of the Earth, the last of which was EgyptSat-A launched in 2019.

South Africa is the most independent example

The Russian space agency Roscosmos has experience in developing and launching satellites into orbit for the benefit of African countries. The satellites were launched from the Russian spaceports of Algeria, Angola, Egypt, Nigeria and Tunisia. For example, NigeriaSat-1 was launched from the Plesetsk cosmodrome, and NigeriaSat-2 was launched from the Yasny cosmodrome in the Orenburg region using the Dnepr rocket.

Many Chinese companies consider Africa an important point for applying their efforts and resources, including CAST and Shenzhen DFH HIT. European space companies occupy a major position in the market for launching and establishing space satellites in Africa. The main role is played by the French company Airbus and its subsidiaries Astrium and SSTL, in addition to Thales and the German company TU Berlin.

Perhaps the Republic of South Africa is the only one that can be described as the most independent in this field, which has a historical basis for the development of its space program. In particular, reference was made to the SUNSAT programme, which was developed in 1992 at Stellenbosch University. On February 23, 1999, the first SUNSAT satellite was launched from the spaceport at Vandenberg Air Force Base using a Delta-2 rocket. .

To date, South Africa independently manufactures small satellites for its space program, and also has a constellation that allows it to cover the needs of the country's meteorological service.

South Africa also cooperates closely with Russia. In 2023, a Russian optical-electronic complex for operational monitoring of space debris was opened in this country.

In addition, in September 2023, South Africa joined the Russian-Chinese project to build the international scientific lunar station. African specialists are expected to assist in implementing engineering projects at the station, as well as in its operation and training of scientific personnel.