A live broadcast from Elon Musk’s rocket firm SpaceX showed that Kenya successfully launched its first operational earth observation satellite, Taifa-1, on Saturday.
The satellite, which was developed by nine engineers from Kenya, will collect data on agricultural and environmental conditions, including information on natural disasters such as floods, droughts, and wildfires, which the government intends to use for disaster management and to address food shortages.
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After scrubbing the launch three times due to bad weather, the launch of the Falcon 9 rocket at Vandenberg Base in California, went off without a hitch at approximately 06:48 GMT.
Approximately one hour and four minutes after the launch of the rocket, Space X broadcasted, “Taifa-1 separation confirmed,” when the satellite was successfully separated from the rocket.
“We have the challenges that have been brought about by climate change, which the satellite, by virtue of being able to capture images (will be able to help monitor)”, Capt. Alloyce Were, an aeronautical engineer and deputy director of Navigation and Positioning at the government-run Kenya Space Agency, said on Friday before the satellite’s launch, that the satellite would be able to help monitor these challenges.
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The launch of the satellite was scheduled for Saturday.
According to the Kenyan Space Agency, the satellite was put together over the course of two years with the assistance of the Bulgarian aerospace company Endurosat at a total cost of Ksh 50 million ($372,000).
“We are able to monitor the changes that are occurring in the urbanization and the forest.”
According to the agency, it will be operational for a period of five years before beginning deteriorating, over the next 20 years before it re-enters the atmosphere and burns out.
In accordance with SpaceX’s rideshare program, the launch rocket carried payloads from fifty different countries.
As of the end of 2022, 14 African countries had launched a total of 52 satellites, according to consulting firm Space Hubs Africa.
