South Africa launching three nanosatellites in R27 million project

Minister of Higher Education, Science, and Innovation, Blade Nzimande announced that South Africa is gearing up to launch three locally produced nanosatellites on Thursday, 13 January 2022.

The three nanosatellites (MDASat-1) are the first of the Department of Science and Innovation’s (DSI) Maritime Domain Awareness Satellite (MDASat) constellation.

At full operation, the constellation will have a total of nine cube satellites to detect, identify, and monitor vessels in South African waters in near real-time.

Thursday’s launch comes three years after the launch of South Africa’s most advanced nanosatellite, the ZACube-2.

“Since its launch in 2018, ZACube-2 has been providing cutting-edge very high frequency (VHF) data exchange communication systems to the country’s maritime industry, as a contribution to Operation Phakisa,” Nzimande said.

He added that the DSI had invested R27 million over the past three years to develop the MDASat constellation.

The DSI is collaborating with the Cape Peninsula University of Technology to implement the work.

The minister alluded to the lack of space professionals in South Africa, saying that the shortage had prompted the DSI and National Research Foundation (NRF) to start a human capital development programme at CPUT.

In collaboration with the French South African Institute of Technology (F’SATI) cube satellite (CubeSat) programme, the DSI and NRF introduced a Master’s in Electrical Engineering specialising in satellite systems.

“As part of this programme, students are taught engineering principles using CubeSats as training tools,” Dr Nzimande said.

“CubeSats are built using the same engineering principles as any other satellite, hence highly specialised and advanced skills are acquired through this programme.”

The MDASat-1 launch will see the first satellite constellation developed entirely in Africa sent into space.

The satellites are scheduled to be launched from Cape Canaveral in the United States on Thursday, 13 January 2022, at 17:25 South African Standard Time aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The mission is called Transporter-3.

According to reports, the rocket is expected to cause sonic booms as it breaks the sound barrier on the way back to the landing pad.

The launch is subject to change depending on weather conditions.

Now read: First pig-to-human heart transplant a success — PETA slams research