New African Space Agency to coordinate continent’s work

The African Union (AU) Commission has officially launched the African Space Agency (AfSA) at its headquarters in the Egyptian Space City in Cairo as part of its efforts to harness space technology for sustainable development in the region.

AfSA will serve as an international platform uniting industry leaders, space agencies, investors and policymakers to foster collaboration and develop innovative solutions for the challenges and opportunities in Africa’s space sector.

The ceremonial event on 20 April marked the culmination of efforts that began in January 2016 when the African Union Assembly adopted the African space policy and strategy.

With the agency, the AU intends to establish a strong base for the continent to coordinate its approach to space activities in support of sustainable development, disaster management, climate change monitoring, and socio-economic growth.

Joining the space race

At the opening ceremony, Badr Abdel Aaty, the Egyptian minister of foreign affairs and migration, said that AfSA represented a “milestone” on the path of joint African action and a “leap” in the acquisition of knowledge, especially in the fields of space technology and policy.

“AfSA will serve as a platform for enhancing cooperation among African countries in the peaceful uses of space, exchanging expertise, and building capacities, in addition to unifying African positions in international forums, particularly within the framework of the United Nations,” said Abdel Aaty.

He also highlighted the importance of the agency’s openness to cooperate with research institutions, universities and international space agencies, which will contribute to strengthen Africa’s role in space science and technology.

“AfSA also represents a pivotal step towards building an African future driven by knowledge and innovation, and consolidating the continent’s role as an active player in the global race for technological advancement,” Abdel Aaty added.

He said the agency seeks to address the challenges facing the African continent in various fields, including the collecting and analyses of information, and providing applied programmes in various fields such as food security; crop production and distribution; ecosystems and biodiversity; disease prevention; the monitoring of groundwater, water bodies and rainfall rates; coastal degradation; enhancing security; disaster response, and the mapping of government information and communications technology infrastructure.

Africa currently hosts 22 space institutions, with total investments estimated at US$7.7 billion, representing just 1% of the global space sector. Of the 13,300 satellites in orbit, only 61 belong to 17 African nations.

The African Space Agency

As outlined in the African Space Agency Statute, a central objective of AfSA is to enhance space missions across Africa, ensuring optimal access to space-derived data, information, services, and products.

AfSA will also focus on space priorities including Earth observation, satellite connectivity, astronomy as well as navigation and positioning. Furthermore, it prioritises aligning space technology applications with continental development priorities in agriculture, infrastructure, telecommunications, education, health, and environmental management.

As AfSA builds Africa’s space science and education capabilities it will endeavour to bridge the digital divide across Africa, which could help with the promotion of distance and telemedicine education, especially in rural communities.

Partnerships

AfSA’s first formal international partnerships were signed during the ceremonial event, outlining potential areas for technology transfer, joint missions and capacity development.

The European Space Agency and AfSA partnership includes collaborative Earth observation programmes focused on climate monitoring and natural resource management, joint training programmes for African space professionals, and technical support for AfSA’s early institutional development.

In addition, the United Arab Emirates Space Agency and AfSA partnership includes cooperation on small satellite development as well as educational exchanges between African and Emirati space institutions.

AfSA’s partnership with Roscosmos, the state corporation in Russia responsible for space flights, cosmonautics programmes and aerospace research, includes technical consultation on launch capabilities, space science research collaboration, and the potential participation of African astronauts in future missions.

What does this mean for Africa?

Dr Aboubakar Mambimba Ndjoungui, the director-general of the Gabonese Agency for Space Studies and Observations who attended the ceremonial event, told University World News: “The AfSA represents an excellent opportunity – something that has been lacking in Africa to coordinate all space activities on the continent.

“AfSA will play an important role in diagnosing technological gaps on the African continent in order to provide capacity-building strategies. It will also provide a genuine infrastructure policy for the continent.

“We believe that the space sector is a huge source of employment and AfSA must encourage the creation of small and medium-sized enterprises in order to strengthen the private sector and, therefore, create sustainable jobs to contribute to the continent’s gross domestic product,” Ndjoungui said.

Space law and policy analyst Ruvimbo Samanga, told University World News that AfSA is poised to play the role of unifier for regional initiatives on the African continent.

“Having a centralised body to coordinate the continent’s efforts will, not only help streamline resources, but align efforts and voice towards strengthened capacity in both local and international space affairs,” Samanga said.

She added: “AfSA has the capacity to support sustainable development in Africa through providing essential data and data products and services derived from space infrastructure, to help various and diverse stakeholders make important decisions.”

Samanga’s views are supported by the Report on the United Nations World Space Forum 2024: Sustainable Space for Sustainability on Earth which indicated the contributions of space science and technology to achieving the objectives of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, particularly in addressing environmental and societal challenges.

Many challenges to overcome

“The challenges that might face the African Space Agency are numerous,” Ndjoungui said.

He warned that all countries would need to understand the need to contribute the resources needed to ensure the survival of this new entity of the AU.

“The first challenge is, therefore, the mobilisation of financial resources for its operation and, subsequently, its investment in infrastructure.”

Expanding further, Samanga said: “I hope AfSA will develop a strategy which sets it apart from the current slow turnover of decision-making within the broader AU structures. As space is a dynamic and fast-changing industry, such an organisation will need to be responsive in the face of change.

“I also trust it to surmount the clear coordination challenges that may arise from attempting to coordinate numerous member states with often competing interests. For this, it may have to rely on the regional economic blocs to self-organise, while providing oversight and support where needed,” she suggested.

According to her, another challenge would be maintaining the focus, motivation and support of the youth and other communities that stand to benefit most from space, which remains a challenge worldwide.

“Two-way dialogues are required to ascertain how to transfer knowledge, technology and responsibility to the next generation as the contributors and future beneficiaries of the decisions made today,” she said.