Botswana is the latest African country to successfully send a satellite into space with the recent launch of BOTSAT-1.
The launch took place late last week at the facilities of launch services specialist SpaceX in California in the US. It was attended by President Duma Boko, who explained that BOTSAT-1 will provide real-time data to support national initiatives in environmental monitoring, agriculture, disaster response and urban planning. “Its capabilities position Botswana as a growing player in space technology within Africa,” he added.
News resource ITWeb Africa says the satellite was developed by engineers from the Botswana International University of Science and Technology. It was launched in California because neither Botswana nor Africa could offer a space pad capable of launching a satellite of BOTSAT-1’s size.
Botswana has now joined a group of African governments and telecom companies that plan to use satellite technology to help the region achieve its economic goals. Botswana is known in particular for mining, which may be one of the industries to benefit from the new satellite's data-gathering capabilities.
The Minister of Communications and Innovation, David Tshere, told Botswana media that BOTSAT-1 was launched aboard a SpaceX rocket, capable of accommodating a hyper-spectral camera payload at an altitude of approximately 600 kilometres.
The satellite will orbit the earth continuously six times daily, transmitting and collecting data, such as high-resolution images from the earth’s surface, for various purposes. A ground station has reportedly been set up to receive and store information from the satellite.
The government has apparently announced plans for a second satellite, though its precise purpose and launch dates are not yet known.