Launching rockets from African soil? Hold on, it’s coming

Africa might soon be able to launch rockets and satellites into space from its own soil.

The University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) officially launched its Aerospace Systems Research Institute (ASRI) on 3 May 2024. The institute lists developing “an indigenous, commercial space launch capability for South Africa” as its driving aim.

Eventually, ASRI plans to build a launchpad and associated infrastructure at the Denel Overberg Test Range near Arniston in South Africa’s Western Cape province. Located close to the southernmost tip of Africa, the site has certain advantages, making it an attractive proposition, such as relatively low volumes of air and marine traffic.

ASRI’s programme of aerospace propulsion development is being funded by South Africa’s Department of Science and Innovation (DSI).

“We hope to have a rocket on the pad by perhaps 2028,” ASRI Director Professor Michael Brooks said in a public talk preceding the launch.

Africa’s space industry has grown rapidly over the past 25 years. According to consultancy Spacehubs Africa, 15 African countries have, so far, launched 59 satellites – but all from foreign launch pads.

Africa’s first satellite – SUNSAT, built by postgraduate engineering students at Stellenbosch University (SU) – was launched from the United States in 1999. The Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) launched ZACube-1 from Russia in 2013. Other countries that have launched African satellites include Kazakhstan and French Guiana.

The German broadcaster Deutsche Welle reported in April 2023 that Djibouti had plans to collaborate with China on building a spaceport. Its five-year construction timeline shows it will be complete at around the same time as the ASRI site in South Africa.

Numerous achievements for UKZN engineers

ASRI forms part of the discipline of mechanical engineering at UKZN and was formally established in 2022. Its forerunner, the Aerospace Research Group (ASReG), was established in 2009 to conduct applied research in aerospace engineering and develop highly skilled engineers for the South African economy, according to the invitation to a public talk by Brooks on 29 April 2024.

ASRI now runs one of the largest university-based aerospace research programmes in South Africa and focuses on the design, development and testing of aerospace propulsion and flight systems, including rocket engines, turbopumps and turbomachinery, suborbital and orbital launch vehicles, and novel propellants.

Since 2009, UKZN engineers have built and tested numerous research rocket motors and flown several suborbital rockets. Notable achievements include the establishment of a new African altitude record for suborbital hybrid rockets, the development and testing of the most powerful university-built liquid rocket engine on the African continent and the development of unique ground-test facilities for hybrid and liquid rocket propulsion systems.

Brooks is an associate professor in mechanical engineering at UKZN. His undergraduate degree is from the University of Natal, and he holds MScEng and PhD degrees from Stellenbosch University, which is listed as an ASRI collaborator.

He is a member of the South African Institution of Mechanical Engineering, the Aeronautical Society of South Africa, and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He is also a Fulbright scholar and a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society.

Brooks spoke to University World News.

UWN: Why are satellites important?

MB: Our modern lives depend increasingly on satellites. They make not only satellite TV possible, but also the global positioning system (GPS), the navigation system allowing us to use our smartphones to get directions. We also rely on satellites for communication, banking, weather prediction, environmental monitoring, search and rescue, agriculture, and development.

UWN: Why does Africa need its own space launch capability?

MB: Even though we can send satellites to foreign countries for launching, there is a price to be paid. For one thing, it adds cost. It also restricts where you can go because you are effectively hitching a ride with other satellites. You have no control over delays. And there are strategic reasons for not wanting to be dependent on other countries, which can deny you the right to get into orbit.

There are also industrial and economic reasons. We want to boost South Africa’s advanced manufacturing sector, drive economic growth in aerospace engineering, and create employment. And if we launch foreign satellites on a South African vehicle, we can attract foreign income and generate tax revenue for the country.

Lastly, there are social advantages. We need to improve the quality of maths and science that are being taught in our schools, and a programme like this can act as an incentive in that respect.

UWN: What is the business case for this venture?

MB: The space economy is estimated to be worth US$500 billion at the moment and is projected to grow to US$1.8 trillion by 2035.

The launch services segment is currently worth about US$14 billion. If you have rockets that can put satellites into orbit and the capability to launch them, there is definitely a market out there. We have determined that we only need to capture a very small part of that market to be sustainable.

UWN: What does it take to develop a launch capability?

MB: You must develop a whole ecosystem – not only the rockets, but also the launchpad. You must also be able to plan and manage the mission, do all the research and development, and manage the whole supply chain. You need regulatory frameworks, you must engage with governments, there are insurance issues and, of course, you must have the people to do all of this.

UWN: How important is human capital development for this initiative?

MB: ASRI builds rockets, but we also focus intensively on developing highly skilled propulsion engineers because the former is not possible without the latter.

Human capital development is critical and one of the pillars of our institute. When we started the space propulsion programme at UKZN 15 years ago, there were virtually no liquid rocket propulsion engineers in South Africa. We’ve successfully grown our own timber and we now have a cohort of hands-on, experienced and highly capable engineers executing the work of the institute.

UWN: How many postgraduates have you produced through the years?

MB: ASRI and its predecessor, ASReG, have graduated 25 postgraduate students in aerospace-related fields since 2009, mainly through the MScEng programme at UKZN.

UWN: South Africa does not have a large space industry yet. Where do your students find employment?

MB: Our students are well equipped for work in any area of the engineering sector. We employ a substantial number of our own graduates in the institute, but those who have left have gone to work for defence companies in the Denel group, some for SANSA (the South African National Space Agency) and the CSIR (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research), and some for companies in the sugar industry and industrial sectors.

Others have gone on to study at prestigious overseas universities like TU Delft and Cambridge. And several now work for an international rocket company.

We’re proud of all our ASRI graduates who are, without exception, some of the finest engineers that South Africa has produced.

UWN: How is the Fourth Industrial Revolution, including machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI), likely to impact your initiative?

MB: No doubt they will impact us, but it’s early days and hard to know exactly how these paradigm-shifting technologies will play out. They offer promise in engineering design, but also potential pitfalls if left unchecked. I suspect that AI will initially play more of a supporting role in advanced engineering, perhaps as a kind of design support tool or possibly as an aid to creativity.

It may also make its way into CAD (computer-aided design) and simulation software to assist the engineer in more effectively assessing the performance of a design.

I don’t think we’ll see AI take over the entire design-build-test process for a while, though – at least not until there’s a more rigorous way of ensuring the repeatability of AI design processes and validating their outputs.