The new breakthrough comes after the southern African nation successfully launched ZimSat-1, its first Earth Observation CubeSat, into space in November 2022.
Zimbabwe’s Minister for Finance and Economic Development, Mthuli Ncube, has stated that the country has cooperated with Japan to accomplish this project, as it did the last one.
As part of the agreement, Japan will train graduates to establish the framework for Zimbabwe to manufacture satellites in the future. According to Ncube, in addition to the three currently scheduled satellites, others are in the pipeline.
Nigeria’s satellite launch plans are postponed due to limited money. In a second statement, Painos Gweme, Coordinator of the Zimbabwe National Geospatial and Space Agency (ZINSGA), acknowledged that the agency is collaborating with multiple partners to develop, manufacture, assemble, test, and launch satellites in accordance with Zimbabwe’s national space plan.
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Gweme, who promised that the government would declare the status of ZimSat-2 in June 2024, also restated the country’s long-term ambition of producing space satellites domestically.
In addition to ground station configuration, uplink and downlink data, and satellite monitoring and control throughout their orbital lives, the collaborative training will cover satellite design, production, testing, and launch.
“The main purpose of these earth observation satellites is to provide scientific data on the country’s current situation,” Gweme went on to clarify.
SpaceX launches six Starlink satellites to provide global internet connectivity for 4G smartphones. The ZimSat-1 satellite was an educational Earth Observation Cubesat that mapped land use, land cover, and water quality while transferring data from orbit to the Mazowe ground station command center. It has now proven indispensable in agricultural and mining mapping efforts.
The ZimSat-2 project, on the other hand, will be an Earth observation satellite with more capabilities than its predecessor.
Techrectory with Agency Report.