Angola to join the space race

Angola’s first satellite is expected to be launched into space in the first quarter of 2017.

The local construction of Angosat 1 is scheduled to be completed in November 2016.

Once in orbit, it is designed to have a working life of 15 years.

Meanwhile, SA is an old timer when it comes to satellites, launching its first, Sunsat, from Vandenberg Air Force Base as long ago as 1999.

More recently, it launched its second, SumbandilaSat (Sumbandila in Venda means “lead the way”) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in 2009.

Interestingly, this satellite was designed by the University of Stellenbosch, constructed by the Western Cape company SunSpace – both supported by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), which is also responsible for operations, telemetry, tracking, control as well as data capturing.