Yesterday, a report indicated that preparations for the launch of Tanzania's first national space satellite are moving along quickly. According to Nape Nnauye, the East African country's minister of information, communication, and information technology, the spacecraft might be sent into orbit later this year.
He assured top ministry officials present at a retreat that every effort was being made to guarantee the nation's first satellite was launched. “We are confident that Tanzania’s satellite will be launched this year. It will be possible... We are currently laying the ground,” the minister for information remarked.
The president of Tanzania, Samia Suluhu Hassan originally declared the nation's venture into space technology in the country's capital of Dar es Salaam in May of this year. The initiative was definitely one of the ministry's objectives for this year, Mr. Nnauye subsequently acknowledged to The Citizen, a Tanzanian news outlet from whom this information is provided.
“The President has already said and issued a directive on the issue. It is now our responsibility to see to it that this is implemented,” he said. Nnauye did not provide any other information on the project, which is expected to cost billions of shillings and will allow Tanzania to join other African nations with its own satellites.
President Hassan withheld information about the enormous initiative when she made a hint about it on May 19 of this year. She made it plain, nevertheless, that talks with the pertinent domestic and international partners were ongoing to achieve the scientific milestone.
Only a small number of African nations have currently adopted the technology, with Egypt leading the way with nine satellites already in orbit. South Africa comes next with eight satellites in orbit, followed by Algeria with seven, Nigeria with six, and Morocco, the economic powerhouse of the Maghreb region, with three. On the list of African nations with satellites in the sky are more nations like Ghana, Sudan, Ethiopia, Angola, Kenya, Rwanda, and Mauritius.
When Tanzania had the idea to create and send a satellite into orbit, a number of foreign businessmen were interested in helping the nation. One of them, US tech billionaire Elon Musk, expressed interest in putting Tanzania's service for Starlink, his constellation of satellite internet nodes run by SpaceX, on the market. For Kenya, he has already carried that out.