Uganda to launch satellite to space on November 7

Author: Chany Ninrew | Published: Monday, November 7, 2022

The Artemis I unmanned lunar rocket sits on the launchpad at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA in August. The launch of Uganda’s satellite by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) in Virginia, USA, was postponed over security concerns. PHOTO/AFP

Uganda will send its satellite – PearlAfricaSat-1 to space on November 7, after the long-awaited launch was postponed on Sunday when a fire alarm halted all activities at the America-based mission control building.

The launching station in Virginia was evacuated after a fire alarm rang out, Ugandan media report, adding that the cause of the alarm going off was yet to be determined.

“As they were preparing to send it into space, the fire alarm was reported in the mission control building and that is not a signal that they [America’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) ] can allow [it] to continue,” Dr Monica Musenero, the Minister for Science and Technology told Daily Monitor newspaper.

Dr. Musenero added that NASA, a US scientific agency, called off the launch.

Nasa also confirmed the postponement in a tweet.

“Liftoff of the Cygnus spacecraft is now set for November 7 at 5:27am ET [1:27 pm EAT],” reads the tweet seen by Daily Monitor.

According to the Minister, the satellite, which was developed by three Ugandan engineers, is being launched by Nasa because Uganda does not have the capacity to do it.

Local media reports indicate that the launch has been postponed several times.

It was initially scheduled for September, was postponed to October over “bad weather,” according to the developers. But this was later pushed to November 6 which again met frustrations.

Dr Doreen Agaba, the country’s technical lead of the Department of Aeronautics and Space Science reportedly said, after reaching the space station, the satellite will be deployed to the low earth orbit by a robot for it to start sending required images.

She said PearlAfricaSat-1 has a multispectral camera payload which will be used in research and observation of high-resolution image data to support weather forecasting; land, water and mineral mapping and agriculture monitoring.

Dr Musenero said the satellite will save Uganda from relying on satellite data from other countries which are sometimes blamed for inaccurate weather predictions in the country.

But Ugandan citizens and legislators allegedly criticized the program and said the government should focus on what the country can favourably compete in, instead of investing in space science.

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