Nigeria Launches First African-Built Satellite

03 October 2011

NIGERIASAT-2 (shown here in a rendered image) and Nigeria Sat-X will take infrared readings of Nigeria's farms, and beam down data estimating next season's crop forecast

This is the VOA Special English Technology Report.

Nigeria has launched the first satellite designed and built by Africans. The NigeriaSat-X is one of two Earth observation satellites that the country recently launched. These are Nigeria's third and fourth satellites.

The NigeriaSat-X is the result of a training agreement between the National Space Research and Development Agency and a company called Surrey Satellite Technology. Twenty-six Nigerian engineers attended a training program over an eighteen-month period at the satellite developer’s offices in the United Kingdom.

Steve Young is head of business development for the company. He says the skills that the young Nigerian scientists have learned should help not only their country's space program.

STEVE YOUNG: “You are now beginning to train a corps of very experienced engineers, high-technology technicians, and people who are going to benefit the wider economy. That also is a very good effect that the Nigerians get in investing in high-tech programs. They've got to develop their economy, and that's one of the ways they do that is by doing this.”

The cameras on the satellites can show details of objects as small as two and a half meters across. These images will be used to map territory and help with city planning. The pictures can also provide valuable information about crop and land conditions, and assist in disaster relief efforts.