Secular Café: Africa's journey to space begins on the ground

Secular Café For serious discussion of politics, political news, policy, political theory and economics and events happening round the world

Africa's journey to space begins on the ground Jul 10th 2012, 15:31 Quote: 10 July 2012 Last updated at 00:36 ET Africa's journey to space begins on the ground By Meredith Baker BBC News NASRDA engineers working on NigeriaSAT-2 Nigerian engineers worked on satellites, helped by foreign expertise As the US space programme loses momentum with the retirement of the space shuttle, those of Ghana and Nigeria are just taking off. Though neither country has yet launched people into orbit, both are utilising the technology they have developed from their space agencies to help people on the ground. Nigeria founded its National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) in 1999 with the intent of using and developing space technology that would translate into socio-economic benefits for the population at large. It launched its first satellite in 2003. The country has made great strides in satellite technology in the past decade with the establishment of NigComSat, an independent company charged with managing the commercial and business operations of communication satellites. With the help of the Chinese, NigComSat launched NigComSat-1R in December 2011. It is a hybrid geostationary satellite with a 15-year lifespan that has provided improved and cost-effective wireless and internet coverage for Nigerians. Not only has NigComSat-1R expanded opportunities for broadcast companies, but the government of Nigeria estimates that $10m (£6.5m) can be made from direct-to-home TV initiatives made possible by the satellite. .... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18739694

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions