Kenya is set to be the first African nation to venture into space Science, with the deployment of a University satellite on Friday, May 11.
The Nano-satellite was developed by students and researchers of the University of Nairobi (UoN) in partnership with Japanese Space Agency (JAXA).
The Friday deployment will be conducted from Kibo Space Centre in Japan. The exercise set to take place from 12.00 pm to 2pm will be witnessed by a Kenyan delegation led by Education CS Amina Mohammed.
“The deployment ceremony will be done from Kibo Space Centre on May 11, 2018, at about 1 pm Kenyan time. The Cabinet Secretary, Ambassador Amina Mohamed, will lead a powerful delegation comprising of government officials and university researchers to witness the event live,” UoN director of corporate affairs John Orindi said.
A statement from the university management said the device is identified as the First Kenya University Nano Satellite-Precursor Flight (1KUNS-PF). The 10 centimetre cube satellite (CubeSat) was developed under the KiboCube programme run by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and JAXA.
During a media briefing on Monday, May 7, UoN Vice Chancellor Prof. Peter Mbithi said the institution is ready to work and cooperate with the partner institutions in their venture in space. The institution that has earned a great reputation across the East and Central Africa region is seeking for support as it goes into space exploration and space science. It takes approximately 1 Million US dollars to successfully launch one satellite into space.
“The camera on the satellite is commercial and of low resolution. We are calling on partners to support us as we seek to upgrade our satellite ventures,” Prof. Mwangi Mbuthia said.
Prof Mbuthia is a senior lecturer in ICT, Electrical, Electronics and Control Engineering at the institution. The UoN Satellite will be used to collect data on climate change, wildlife mapping, earth mapping, weather forecast, coastline monitoring, transport and logistics.