Two satellites built by Zimbabwean engineers, ZimSat-1 and Pearl AfricaSat-1 by Ugandan engineers respectively, have been launched into space.
Zimbabwe’s satellite was assembled by three of the country’s scientists who were supported and trained in Japan.
While Uganda’s satellite, the PearlAfricaSat-1 was also built by three of its own country’s aerospace engineers. It is hoped that Uganda will set up its own command station to manage the satellite within the country.
The launch of the first satellites in Zimbabwe and Uganda is part of the BIRDS-5 joint global project with multi-national participation.
It is a constellation of two CubeSats 1U (Zimsat-1 and PearlAfricaSat-1) and CubeSat 2U (TAKA), developed by Japan, which will also be launched into space with African equipment.
Launched in 2015, the BIRDS program, led by the Kyushu Institute of Technology (Kyutech), has already seen the participation of fourteen countries.
Both satellites will collect images of the countries from space to help support research, disaster prevention, weather forecasting, as well as monitoring border security.
