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The first operational Kenyan satellite was put into orbit recently, thereby the East African country taking a significant step towards developing indigenous capacity. The rocket company SpaceX launched the satellite, taking off from California.
The first operational Kenyan satellite was put into orbit recently, thereby the East African country taking a significant step towards developing indigenous capacity. The rocket company SpaceX launched the satellite, taking off from California.
The launch of the satellite was postponed several times due to bad weather conditions. Finally, last Saturday, a Falcon-9 rocket of SpaceX took off at 06H48 GMT from the American base of Vandenberg (California). SpaceX launched tens of satellites, including the Kenyan Taifa-1, which in the local language means Nation1.
Importantly, the satellite was designed and developed by a team of Kenyan researchers. The satellite will provide data in the areas of agriculture and environmental monitoring. Kenya is currently experiencing a historic drought that affected its agriculture. The Kenyan Ministry of Defense and the Kenya Space Agency (KSA) hailed this historic feat and hoped it would give a boost to Kenya’s nascent space economy.
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Both organizations in a joint statement said that it would, among other things, improve food security and enable access to high-quality data on the environment, weather, etc, which will be highly beneficial to agriculture. Kenya sent its first nano-satellite into space in 2018. As of 2022, more than 50 African satellites have been sent into space in Africa, Egypt was the first country to send a satellite into orbit in 1998.
