Africa: The continent’s space ambition
Abidjan is hosting the second edition of the African forum on space that the African Union organized. This forum brings together nearly 300 decision-makers, engineers, and space industry companies from the continent.
The goal of these different actors is to develop South-South cooperation in research, training, and information sharing. All of this has a practical purpose: access to this industry helps to develop the local economy, fight against climate change, and improve agricultural techniques.
According to the African Union, the continent has around fifty satellites. In 2021, this sector generated nearly $20 billion and many companies are turning to the space industry.
However, this rapid development hides a significant gap that still needs to be bridged: that of education and training.
Mohamed Belhocine, the African Union Commissioner for Education, Science, Technology, and Innovation, explains, «You can collect humidity levels in a beet field, but if you can’t interpret that data to say “there’s a drought here, we need to do something”, then it’s useless».
«We are setting up tools that allow the continent to have a minimum of autonomy and coherence in African policies», adds the AU official. « We have the African Space Agency established in Cairo. We want it to become the crucible around which all national space agencies will aggregate».
The necessity of the training and innovation’s enhancement in Africa
Investing in education and training would enable the African continent to break away from a pattern where everything is imported from abroad.
«The innovative idea is that from the beginning to the end of the chain, we know all the skills, all the intellectual resources, because we train young people», explains Eric N’Guessan, Secretary-General of the African Association for Technology and Innovation.
«We teach maths, electronics and programming so that we can master the entire chain to get to the satellite. Today, we are able to master this chain», continues the scientist. «The last link is the launcher. So, let’s master all the necessary technologies to go all the way to the launcher».
Gabon’s success story in the Space industry
In February 2010, Gabon started its space industry with the goal of better understanding climate change and obtaining reliable data on forest cover to calculate greenhouse gas emissions.
By establishing its own space agency and acquiring a satellite, Gabon has been able to expand the applications of this tool.
«Before, we used to spend a lot of money and personnel to engage in field missions that lasted six or seven months to conduct forest inventories», recalls Aboubakar Mambimba Ndjoungui, deputy director of the Gabonese Agency for Space Studies and Observations (Ageos in French).
«With the satellite we have today, we have fewer people in the field, we only go to places where data is missing», he adds.
«We have gained in time and finances. We have a very important contribution to issues related to floods: satellite tools allow us to identify flood-prone areas and avoid natural disasters», he continues.
This service now has a sub-regional scope: Gabon can cover 24 countries and meets the needs of states that do not yet have satellites. «We monitor the evolution of Lake Chad», explains Aboubakar Mambimba Ndjoungui.
«We also monitor the Gulf of Guinea because there is illegal fishing, piracy, and hydrocarbon pollution. All these aspects are technically managed by Ageos, which provides accurate information to all stakeholders who need to intervene».
The AU strongly encourages each state to develop this industry at its own scale and to create synergies through this conference.
Yannick H.
