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SA's space agency gets the all clear for liftoff
July 31, 2006
By Thabang Mokopanele
Johannesburg - South Africa's small space industry has welcomed the cabinet's approval last week of plans to set up an agency to co-ordinate and implement the country's space science and technology programmes.
Ron Oliver, the export manager at Sunspace, a company that builds small and medium-sized satellites, said: "Cabinet approval of a space agency is an incredibly good step for the space industry in the country.
"We believe that the government is sending a message to the world that the country is ready and capable of providing its own independent space needs in the international community."
Last week the cabinet approved plans to set up a space agency to undertake long-term planning and implementation of space-related activities in South Africa.
The cabinet said on Friday that the agency would co-ordinate its activities closely with the SA Council for Space Affairs and other stakeholders, and would report to the minister of science and technology.
Oliver said that South Africa had the capabilities to run space programmes, although these skills were in the private sector.
"The private sector is willing to share the control of intellectual property with the government," he said.
According to Oliver, Sunspace is putting the world's first multisensor multispectral imager (MSMI) into space on a satellite platform. It has been developed by the company for the MSMI consortium and is jointly funded by the government's Innovation Fund and the Flemish regional government.
He said the satellite combination would have the capability to rival SPOT-5 multispectral data output and exceed anything else flying on a small satellite platform.
Weather forecasts, digital television and satellite navigation are only a few examples of where space activities have an impact on the economy.
Sunspace is also developing a high-stability platform for an ultraviolet astronomy satellite that would be used by astronomers and space scientists.
However, Oliver said South African companies would need to build black engineering capacity through the transfer of training and technology.
Philemon Mjawara, the director-general at the department of science and technology, said the aim of the space agency was to identify industry needs so that South Africa could begin to put more resources into research and development.
"The benefits of a space agency include monitoring of crops and disaster detection, to name but a few," he said.
South Africa's weather forecasts are critically important to the agricultural, fishing and shipping sectors, and aviation depends on weather satellite imagery.
International communications are heavily reliant on communications satellites, without which live coverage of overseas sport events would be impossible.
Global positioning systems are used commercially in the maritime, aviation and trucking sectors, and increasingly in private cars.
The country's first satellite tracking facility, located in Kempton Park, became operational in the first quarter of 1958.
It was built at the expense of the US, as part of the global satellite tracking system of Nasa, and was soon moved to Hartebeeshoek. The facility was staffed by South Africans and subsequently transferred to South African control.
In 1961, also at Hartebeeshoek, Nasa built and brought into service part of its Deep Space Instrumentation Facility. Again, it was predominantly staffed by locals and later transferred to South Africa.
The European Space Agency argues that the benefits of space exploration are not confined to scientists, engineers and astronauts. Many medical discoveries originated in space research, including advances in detecting cancers and new heart disease treatments.
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