Cube satellites to bolster education of space scientists

The Egyptian Space Agency (EgSA), in cooperation with the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), plans to develop 35 educational cube satellites (CubeSats) for universities across Egypt to prepare future space scientists.

Meshack Kinyua Ndiritu, a space systems specialist at the African Union Commission’s space programme, human resources, science and technology department based in Ethiopia, told University World News that the provision of CubeSats training kits to universities could empower a critical mass of engineers and scientists to master components and subsystems through reverse engineering.

“If these efforts are replicated across Africa, the total impact is an empowered generation of engineers and scientists that are capable of driving the indigenous space programmes that Africa needs,” said Ndiritu.

The latest move in this direction was cemented in an agreement between EgSA and Beni Suef University’s faculty of navigation and space technology at the end of February.

This agreement allows for students guided by Egyptian space experts of EgSA to develop CubeSats, according to the official Facebook page of EgSA.

CubeSats offers affordable access to space for research institutes and universities as cost-effective educational and research tools that enable the efficient use of small satellites for a variety of purposes which allow students, specialists and engineers to learn and perform programming.

As part of the Egyptian Universities Satellite Project, EgSA will give newly graduated students practical training on space with a focus on key concepts such as designing electronic systems, mechanical systems and associated software, and system engineering operations.

In order to give students practical experience in testing and operating satellites, EgSA will also provide an integrated theoretical and practical curriculum for space science and technology education, including workouts in the satellite laboratories.

In addition to Beni Suef University, EgSA has also signed agreements to provide CubeSats to other institutions, including Helwan University, the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport, the Suez Canal University, the Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute and the Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology.

Since its launch in 2016, the educational satellite programme CubeSats Project had impacted on about 3,000 undergraduate students from an estimated 30 Egyptian universities through training, workshops and space-day events across Egypt which resulted in about 55 successfully developed CubeSat hardware and software modules as graduation projects.

The Egyptian initiative is in line with the National Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation 2030 work, including the African Space Strategy which called, among other issues, for human capital development through supporting space science teaching and research at universities.

Home-grown human capital

Magdi Tawfik Abdelhamid, professor of biotechnology at Cairo’s National Research Centre, told University World News: “This is a significant step forward for developing home-grown human resource capital, including producing the skilled workforce and the scientific research needed for the Egyptian and African space industry.”

He said the space industry could benefit several other sectors, including facilitating access to university education through satellites.

“EgSA could expand its CubeSats programme to African universities by establishing a virtual educational CubeSats laboratory that could circumvent time and space as well as avoid excessive expense and is especially relevant during COVID-19 as online laboratories can offer experiences despite socially distanced learning settings,” Abdelhamid suggested.

Temidayo Oniosun, the founder and managing director of Space in Africa, told University World News that academia was an integral segment of the African space and satellite industry and that the sector should capitalise on the skills and expertise that are available in universities.

“Therefore, the Egyptian initiative is a move in the right direction, as the lack of talents and skills is one of the challenges facing the industry,” he said.

“This is why several African countries are investing heavily in capacity development at local levels so they can develop their technologies themselves instead of always outsourcing them,” added Oniosun, who is also the former regional coordinator of the Space Generation Advisory Council for Africa.

The African space economy is worth about US$7 billion annually, with a projected growth of more than 40% in the next five years, to exceed US$10 billion by 2024, according to the African Space Industry Annual Report 2019 Edition.

Oniosun said that, while Egypt, as the host of the African Space Agency, holds a strategic role in the industry, South Africa has the biggest capacity in Africa when it comes to developing talents in the industry. This is why South Africa is hosting the Pan African University Institute for Space Sciences.

“We expect a lot of cooperation between the university partners in South Africa and other universities across Africa,” Oniosun pointed out.