The small cube—Nigeria’s first satellite and only the second launched by a sub-Saharan African country—did not just watch a storm, it provoked one, too. British politicians and a taxpayers’ pressure group called for a halt in development aid, saying Nigeria did not need help if it could afford a space programme. Still, the sums being spent on space by African countries back then were tiny.
Space in Africa, a consultancy based in Nigeria, reckons that African governments budgeted about $500m for their space agencies in 2020. That is a sliver of the $23bn spent last year by, but it still marked a big jump from the $325m they spent in 2019. This does not include spending by private investors such as Eutelsat, a European operator, which park communications satellites in orbits so they can beam signals down to Africa.
African governments argue that their investments in space programmes help to build local skills that can attract investment and spill over into other areas of the economy. The Square Kilometre Array, an internationally funded radio telescope being built in South Africa, will pull in almost €2bn of investment and is creating thousands of jobs. It is also inspiring youngsters to study engineering.
The satellite programme started on the Stellenbosch University campus has already borne fruit. Several of its graduates went on to work at Dragonfly Aerospace, a firm based in Stellenbosch that hopes to build as many as 48 small satellites a year. In April Max Polyakov, a Ukrainian-born investor, bought a controlling stake in the company for an undisclosed sum.
African countries missed out on the big shift in the world’s economy in the 1990s, when manufacturing moved from rich countries to poorer ones in Asia, because they were not nimble enough to open their economies and attract investment. Now they are entering the space industry just as it is being disrupted by new entrants, who are making small satellites that cost a fraction of the price of big ones made by incumbents.
No fridge, TV, washing machine, car or anything else ever came out of Africa. Now they're 'Blasting it's way into the space race' 🤣🤣🤣🤣 You clearly don't know a damn thing about corruption in Africa. Those funds will be looted. Nothing great has ever and will never happen here
Maybe they should take care if their people here on Earth first?
Mayb they shud vaccinate ppl first
The poor people suffer And the rich benefit. Trickle up economics.
What the f&k !!!! I hope all the western aid charities are no longer pumping millions in to Africa to FEED it staving people.
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