South Africa is now the undisputed African leader in space technology {writer: Fanie Heyns}

When the South African produced satellite SumbandilaSat was launched on 17 September from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan by Russian space agency Roscosmos on a Soyuz-2 rocket, it catapulted South Africa into the space age.

It also highlighted South Africa’s pioneering role as an emerging country in terms of cutting-edge technology.

Furthermore, it established this nation as the undisputed space leader in Africa, says Professor Herman Steyn, group head of Computer and Control Systems of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Stellenbosch.

SumbandilaSat is, in terms of comparable size, the most capable micro satellite in the world. It was also manufactured at only a fraction of the cost (30% to 40%) of a comparable international satellite, said Prof. Steyn.

The total developmental cost of the satellite was R16 million and it took 15 months to manufacture. All sub systems were built domestically, except the solar panels, batteries and propulsion tank and thruster.

“All technology was developed at SunSpace and the Engineering faculty of the University of Stellenbosch, with South African knowledge and expertise,” added Prof. Steyn.

The satellite engineering expertise evolved from the Sunsat-1 programme (South Africa’s first in-orbit satellite), which began in 1991 and culminated in the successful launch and commissioning in February 1999.

Foreign client

Sunsat-1 was operational for two years until its battery failed in 2001. It captured many three-colour, multispectral images of earth at a ground resolution of 15 metres per pixel.

SunSpace also built a 200kg mini satellite for a foreign client. This satellite was launched in 2007 and is still operational with a multispectral camera and a 6.5-metre per pixel resolution, said Prof. Steyn.

The lifespan of the new satellite is five years – with the aid of the butane propulsion system, it can maintain its 500-kilometre sun-synchronous orbit for three years, and thereafter the orbit will decay for a further two-year useful life until the orbit altitude will become too low and the temperature will increase, preventing the electronics and battery to operate reliably.

International interest

Prof. Steyn said other international buyers are already interested in obtaining similar satellite technology from South Africa, and SunSpace and the University of Stellenbosch are currently engaging with these potential clients.

“The international interest is high and the SunSpace blog on SumbandilaSat is receiving hundreds of hits every week,” he said.

Prof. Steyn did not wish to name the prospective foreign buyers, as there are a few ambitious international mini satellite players who would approach those clients if and when their plans of purchasing South African systems become public knowledge.

Asked what the satellite, known as ZA-002, could do for communications technology in South Africa, Prof. Steyn explained that the satellite’s primary payload is an imager, or camera, for earth observation.

Furthermore, it possesses a secondary communications payload, mainly for e-mail messages from remote locations in South Africa, without cellphone and telecoms connections, such as clinics that may benefit from the communications function to order medicine and to obtain medical advice.

Engineering News adds that the satellite, which overflies South Africa four times each day, is currently being controlled from the Electronic Systems Laboratory ground-station at the University of Stellenbosch.

March 2010 could herald a new day for export

Once fully operational, command of the satellite will be transferred to a mission control centre at the Satellite Applications Centre (SAC) at Hartbeeshoek, west of Pretoria. SumbandilaSat will be ready for domestic use by March 2010 when the commissioning phase ends.

A similar satellite will take 12 to 18 months to manufacture and export, Prof. Steyn told Service magazine.

Experiencing a space-age breakthrough firsthand

“The launch was fantastic,” enthused Ron Olivier, managing director of SunSpace, who witnessed it firsthand.

“It was most amazing. The ground was shaking. The air was roaring. Windows rattled. And we were a kilometre away.

“We were in Baikonur, where the space age started. Standing where Yuri Gagarin stood, where Sputnik had been launched and then you see your own satellite on a Soyuz rocket. It was the most amazing experience,” said Olivier. (Source: Engineering News).

The 1m x 0.5m satellite is the result of a three-year integrated capacity and satellite development programme commissioned by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) in 2005 and carried out by SunSpace and the Stellenbosch University’s engineering faculty.

The DST notes this is the same organisation that developed SunSat, which was launched in 1999. SunSat was South Africa’s first locally built satellite and was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California in the United States.  

Minister enthuses about SA benefits

The satellite orbits about 500km to 600km above the earth. Carrying high-resolution cameras, it produces images to be used for agriculture, mapping of infrastructure and land use, population measurement, and the monitoring of dam levels.

The satellite is reminiscent of a washing machine and weighs 82kg. It moves at an extraordinary speed of 28 000km/hour.

Minister of Science and Technology Naledi Pandor said among the many benefits that SumbandilaSat will offer South Africa once operational, are: information that will assist in the effective management of disasters (floods and fires); food security (crop yield estimation); health (prediction of malaria outbreaks); safety and security, water resources; and energy security.

Prof. Steyn, in elaborating on the usefulness of the new satellite, says its most important task would be to scan a section of the earth about 45km wide in diameter, with a camera displaying six colours.

That camera would have agricultural benefits. One could capture images of the maize crop over an extended period and thereby determine the size of the crop.

Ships that are using South African waters illegally to poach marine life will be exposed by the satellite.

Furthermore, the satellite would be employed very successfully in the case of natural disasters such as floods, where observers would be able to visualise how big the area affected by the disaster is, said Prof. Steyn. (Source: Rapport)

He says amateur radio satellite associations in South Africa could also benefit by using images from the satellite to communicate with other associations internationally.

Pioneering new technology

Taking its name from the Venda word meaning “pioneer”, the SumbandilaSat will gather crucial information about weather patterns and how climate change is affecting South Africa.

It heralds a huge milestone in South Africa’s space ambitions. Experts predict that before too long, similar projects will be under way, at the cutting edge of communications.

“We take off-the-shelf technologies, putting them together cheaply, efficiently, quickly, and in such a way that our customers are able, with a small product, to outperform… the traditional space models,” says Oliver.

The government believes sustained investment in a space satellite programme is a calculated risk which, if it pays off, could benefit millions of South Africans, both in terms of jobs and getting the information the country requires to plan for a more stable and prosperous future.

SunSpace, subcontracted to build the satellite, and the University of Stellenbosch have used the funds by the South African government to empower and train 20 postgraduate students in modern space technology and the building of the microsatellite, says Prof. Steyn.

Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd in the United Kingdom, the world leader in microsatellites internationally, has built 35 satellites thus far.

SunSpace already has completed and launched two satellites and is in the process of developmental work on a third.

Possible medium-term plans for 10 satellites

South Africa is currently in the process of establishing a domestic space agency, and a national space council will be formalised by 2010.

The provisional plans, if approved by the domestic agency and legislated by the government, would be to produce a satellite every two years and to complete 10 satellites within the next two decades.

Apart from the human capacity development and the expansion of South Africa’s technological capabilities, the manufacturing of new microsatellites would unlock the country’s commercial capacity to export space technology.

Prof. Steyn believes the locally manufactured satellites could be immensely popular, not only because of the impressive technology on board but also its competitive pricing.

“The locally manufactured satellites, if the development and launching processes are included, might cost in the region of £3 million, while its international counterparts would fetch about £6 million or more before it is commercially in use,” he said.

Could South Africa eventually have its own “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” moment such as Neil Armstrong’s in 1969 when the US astronaut became the first human to step onto the moon?

Differently stated, could South Africa launch its own Apollo mission? Prof. Steyn says developing that technology and investing enough money for one mission would demand at least R10-R100 billion from the government. It is something that would not be feasible for this emerging country with its own budgetary constraints and other challenges.

SumbandilaSat was manufactured at only a fraction of the cost of a comparable international satellite