Africa joined the space race by launching its first satellite

Africa joined the space race by launching its first satellite

Africa later on most other continents joined the international space race. The first African satellite launched into a near-earth orbit was the GhanaSat-1, created by a team of engineers from the University of All Nations, located in the city of Koforidua, the state of Ghana. The project took away from scientists about two years, and its cost was $ 50,000. In June, the satellite was delivered to the NASA International Space Center, and the SpaceX rocket launched into orbit in July.

"There are two main tasks before our companion. First, with the help of built-in cameras it will monitor the coast of Ghana. Secondly, we pursued educational goals. It is planned to use the data received from the satellite in the school curriculum, "the professor at the University of All Nations Richard Damoya shared with the press.

A signal was already received from the orbited satellite, which means that the launch was successful. Of course, the tiny Ghanaian satellite does not look so impressive against the backdrop of the cosmic achievements of other states, but for African scientists even this small success has simply huge national importance. Especially considering the fact that scientists have not received any support from their state. Following Ghana, their satellites into orbit are most likely to be brought out by the space agencies of South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Ethiopia. It is well known that next year the satellite of Angola will be launched. Ghana will develop its second satellite already with the support of the government and will provide it with better cameras to track from orbit illegal logging and mining of minerals.