Kenya launches its first Earth observation satellite on Tuesday, which will allow the African continent to “build a scientific university fabric”, according to Olivier Sanguy, in charge of space news at the Cité de l’Espace in Toulouse, Monday on franceinfo.
The launch of Kenya’s first satellite on Tuesday is “a ticket to space for nations that want space independence”, explains Monday April 10 on franceinfo Olivier Sanguy, in charge of space news at the Cité de l’espace in Toulouse, while Kenya will launch its first Earth observation satellite on Tuesday April 11 aboard a Falcon rocket 9 from the American company SpaceX. The challenge of this launch for Africa is the “data sovereignty”and will enable the African continent to “build a scientific university fabric”.
franceinfo: Is it the independence of Kenya and the African continent in terms of space that is at stake?
Olivier Sanguy: It’s a story of data sovereignty. We are in a world of data. This satellite will send data to the territory of Kenya and Kenya will use it. It’s a pretty simple little satellite. It’s 30 centimeters long by 10 centimeters wide, but it has a so-called multi-spectral camera. We show images and the colors, roughly, give the state of vegetation, the state of soil moisture. This makes it possible to take sovereign decisions, that is to say where should agriculture be developed, where should more water be put, less fertilizer. And Kenya said it itself: ‘We’re not going to need anybody else. We have our own instrument over which we are sovereign’. So we can clearly see this issue.
A small satellite, is it efficient and cheaper?
Yes, and these are indeed the two qualities of these small satellites called CubeSats. It is a standard. Imagine a 10 centimeter cube. And from there, you make satellites of various shapes, of various sizes. That is, there is a launch installation standard. You should know that SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket today will launch more than thirty satellites at once. It’s a bit like the Blablacar of space. It’s cheaper via satellite. So it’s smaller, efficient, cheaper, it has almost only qualities.
Does this have a future?
It’s a ticket to space for lots of nations that want spatial independence and data independence, especially in Africa. There is a whole movement with creations from space agencies. They want engineers from the African continent to ‘design’ the satellite, manufacture it, not launch it yet, and exploit the data. Like this, they will build a scientific university fabric.
Does this require cooperation between the different African countries?
It is considered. An African Space Agency has even been created, a kind of space agency of the African continent which wants to federate African know-how in space matters. This allows you to be more powerful to sign agreements. You should know that for this small Kenyan satellite, there is a Bulgarian company, called EnduroSat, which helped them develop the satellite. But Kenya insists: the satellite is indeed a Kenyan product.
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So it is not insignificant that China offers its services?
Yes, there is a strong diplomatic stake. It’s called a bit of soft power. Sometimes China offers a turnkey satellite, financed by Chinese banks. And in exchange, there is often, for example, first-rate access to certain natural resources of the country. So it’s interesting. But other countries decide to take small, more progressive steps, but being independent is another choice.