At 9.44pm (EAT) on Tuesday, a Sh50 million satellite weighing less than 10 kilograms that will be carried aboard a SpaceX rocket from the United States to a region known as sun-synchronous orbit—where the sun never sets.
That means the Taifa-1 satellite, which is technically known as a nanosatellite due to the small size of its components, will have constant access to sunlight.
According to the Kenya Space Agency (KSA), the country’s equivalent of America’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), this will not be Kenya’s first satellite launch into space. However, this will be the first operational satellite, according to the KSA’s acting director-general, Hillary Kipkosgei.
In 2018, a government-backed satellite was launched into space for the first time. “It couldn’t do much in terms of providing us with data.” It was simply a tool for increasing capacity. “We’ve since learned from it,” he says.
“It’s equipped with two cameras.” The plan is to photograph Kenya’s surface. Because it will require repeated imagery, you can use those images to deduce some information from this imagery.
Until a few years ago, satellites were heavy, bulky devices that cost an arm and a leg to make. But as science embraces miniaturisation of gadgets, nanosatellites have made satellite technology more accessible. Tiny as they may be, the new crop of satellites does the work done by their bulky predecessors and are cost-friendly and durable.
Mr Kipkosgei said this affordability has enabled Kenya to invest in systems that deliver the capabilities the country needs without breaking the bank. He said Kenya hopes to eventually have a network of interconnected satellites rather than rely on a single one. “[That will ensure] you have almost constant coverage. And that is where you’ll be able to support time-critical operations like security,” he said.
If all goes well and the satellite launched on Tuesday takes the place it has been programmed to take,Mr Kipkosgei said it will fly over Kenya once every four days as it orbits the entire earth.
“It is in that period when it is overflying Kenya – roughly seven minutes – that we will be able to download data,” said Mr Kipkosgei, noting that the download will happen at a facility being set up in Kasarani, Nairobi.
“Roughly, every four days, it will be over Kenya. It could be slightly shorter than that, but that is the estimate we have,” he noted.
Mr Kipkosgei, an engineer by training who joined the military then got absorbed into military aviation, also acknowledges the support of foreign institutions and the government in nurturing the country’s space sector.
