Zambia has completed construction of a ground receiving station that will pave the way for the launch of the country’s long-awaited first satellite.
According to a Facebook post by Zambia’s Minister of Technology and Science Felix Chipota Mutati on Saturday, the government has spent over US$14 million on building the ground receiving station, which is located in Chibombo district in Central Province.
According to Mutati, experts are currently testing the station to prepare for the second phase of preparations for the satellite’s launch. Mutati did not provide any details on the timing of the launch, nor any details about the satellite itself, other than that it is an Earth observation satellite.
Zambia has been planning to launch its own Earth observation satellite for several years to address the challenges posed by climate change in the areas of agriculture, land use, health and energy.
As we reported last month, one of the victims of climate change in Zambia is the electricity grid. Lake Kariba – created by the Kariba Dam, which generates electricity for Zambia and Zimbabwe – has lost 98% of its water, according to a January 2023 LifeGate Daily report. This has forced state-owned power utility ZESCO to extend the duration of power outages from six to 12 hours to prevent a complete failure of the power grid.
This, in turn, has left mobile operators in Zambia struggling to cope with the impact of the power outages and their ability to keep their cell sites running.
According to Lukasata Times, Mutati said in November 2021 that a satellite was the most important component in dealing with climate change. At the time, Mutati set a goal of launching a satellite by 2023.
However, Zambia is grappling with the more pressing issue of its crippling economic crisis triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic. Zambia defaulted on its debt payments in November 2020 and underwent a $13.4 billion debt restructuring under the G20’s Common Framework architecture, which was not completed until June 2024.
Nevertheless, Mutati said the Zambian government was committed to launching a satellite that would help in agriculture, forestry, groundwater management and other sectors.
More and more African countries are turning to satellite technology to manage resources and tackle climate change. Senegal is the latest country on the continent to launch a satellite, which went into orbit on Friday to help government agencies improve resource management, weather forecasting and flight safety.
According to SpaceHubs Africa, 61 satellites have been launched by 17 African countries as of August 19. South Africa and Egypt have launched the most satellites (13 each), with Nigeria in third place by a long way with seven satellites.
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