The recent operationalization of the African Space Agency (AfSA) could help consolidate the continent’s rising space ambitions and turn scattered efforts into a focused advancement of the continent’s space ambitions.
Osmane Ndiaye, the director general of the African Centre of Meteorological Applications for Development (ACMAD), who attended the launch event in Cairo on April 20th, believes the agency will fast-track “access to space data, which will allow better mapping and monitoring.”
“Accessing space data would boost our weather and climate services delivery on nowcasting (cloud, radar) and more data to better initialize our model (AI),” said Ndiaye.
“This way we will provide spatial coverage over Africa that leaves no community behind. This definitely means better products and better resolution (time and space),” he added.
Africa’s space sector is a lucrative economic frontier, with forecasts by ‘Space in Africa,’ a Lagos-based consultancy specializing in market research for the space industry, projecting the industry’s value to rise from US$20 billion in 2021 to $23 billion by 2026.
AfSA has been in the making since January 2016, when the African Union Assembly adopted the African Space Policy and Strategy. It was operationalized last month on the sidelines of the NewSpace Africa conference, which was hosted in Cairo.
AfSA will be managed by the African union’s African Space Council, a ten-member body comprising of elected representatives who will serve a single 4-year term.
The council comprises leading experts from across the continent with deep expertise in space science and technology.
They include Tidiane Ouattara (Côte d’Ivoire), AU space science coordinator and president of the council; Rakiya Babamaaji (Nigeria), deputy director at Nigeria’s space agency, NASRDA; and Thandikile Chisala Mbvundula (Malawi), a veteran ICT advisor and former head of Malawi’s first internet service provider.
Others include Lisho Mundia (Namibia), Amal Layachi (Morocco), Aboubaker Hassan Ali (Djibouti), Éliane Ubalijoro (Rwanda), Amin Mestar (Algeria), Fernand Guy Isseri (Cameroon), and Fatimé Hamat Daoussa (Chad).
The inauguration event drew dignitaries from across Africa and the global space community—including the African Union, national governments, and major space agencies like the European Space Agency, NASA, and the Italian Space Agency.
The launch of AfSA marks a unique moment in Africa’s steadily accelerating space journey, which has gained remarkable momentum over the past two decades.
The continent’s modern space journey reached a defining moment in 1998 when Egypt launched Nilesat 101—the continent’s first satellite—marking its entry into the global space arena.
Built by European aerospace firm Matra Marconi Space (now part of Airbus), the communications satellite was launched on April 28, 1998, from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana.
Its mission was to boost broadcasting capabilities across the Middle East and North Africa, setting the stage for African countries to view space not as a distant frontier, but as a strategic development tool.
Since then, nearly 20 African nations have launched a combined total of 67 satellites, including 11 by private companies, according to space.com, a space exploration news platform.
Africa’s space missions span diverse goals—from earth observation and environmental monitoring to telecommunications and national security—demonstrating a steadily growing and increasingly sovereign space capability across the continent.
The most recent milestone came on March 15, 2025, when Botswana entered the space club with the launch of BOTSAT-1, an earth observation and education information satellite.
Projections show the pace will continue to accelerate in the future. Data from ‘Space in Africa’ shows 23 countries are actively developing space programs, with 125 new satellites slated for launch by the end of 2025.
Despite Africa’s growing presence in orbit, the continent has long relied on Western expertise. Although countries like South Africa developed homegrown satellites as early as 1999, most nations have depended on European support for assembly, development, and launch.
According to Otieno K’Otieno, an aviation trainer at the Kenyatta University in Nairobi, “Africa still relies on external players for launches, which limits the ability to build consistent launch schedules tailored to our own needs.”
However, a shift is underway, with many recent satellites now being designed and built in Africa.
Botswana’s BOTSAT-1, an Earth Observation satellite, was developed by volunteers from the Botswana International University of Science and Technology (BIUST).
Similarly, others, such as Taifa 1, a 2023 Kenyan satellite for earth observation, were developed and designed by Kenyans but manufactured at Endurosat in Bulgaria. Its launch happened from SpaceX’s launch facility in California.
However, the dependence persists in more complex processes such as in launching.
“A launch station is more complex to set up than a satellite program—we’re talking about billions in infrastructure, security protocols, and long-term engineering expertise,” said K’Otieno.
“That’s why a continental approach like AfSA makes sense; no single African country can sustainably bear the cost of an independent launch infrastructure,” he added.
As the continent ramps up infrastructure and skills development, growing collaboration with global players reinforces Africa’s potential and offers a clear glimpse into its unfolding space trajectory.
The Africa2Moon Project, for instance, is an initiative that seeks to deploy a low-frequency radio telescope on the moon. Last month, it was selected as one of the payloads for China’s Chang’e-8 mission.
Set for launch around 2028, China’s Chang’e-8 is a robotic precursor to the International Lunar Research Station, which aims to explore the moon’s south pole.
Africa2Moon is an initiative that seeks to send Africa’s first Moon mission. It is spearheaded by the Foundation for Space Development Africa in collaboration with organizations such as SARAO (South African Radio Astronomy Observatory) and SANSA (South African National Space Agency).
Notably, Africa2Moon is part of China’s growing interest in collaborating with African countries on space initiatives.
According to a 2025 Reuters report, China has forged nearly two dozen agreements with African nations to provide satellite equipment, fund ground stations, and offer technical expertise.
For instance, such collaboration led to the development of a state-of-the-art space lab on the outskirts of Cairo, which has been operational since 2023.
Beyond satellite launches into orbit, Africa is seeing a surge in telescope projects, signaling a growing appetite for deep-space observation.
Following the precedent set by the Square Kilometer Array Observatory (SKAO), the world’s largest telescope experiment with base stations in Australia and South Africa, more telescope experiments are being rolled out.
In early 2025, South Africa unveiled the PRIME Telescope in Sutherland for exoplanet discovery.
“The telescope is a 1.8-meter-wide field telescope equipped with the world’s largest class near-infrared (NIR) prime focus camera, provided by NASA,” according to SANSA.
PRIME is a joint Japanese-US-South African project involving the University of Osaka, The AstroBiology Center of the Japanese National Institutes of Natural Sciences, the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, the University of Maryland and SAAO (the South African Astronomical Observatory).
Botswana is also exploring installing a radio telescope for space observation.
“The country is installing a 30-meter radio telescope at Botswana International University of Science and Technology as part of the Africa Very Long Baseline Interferometry (AVN) network,” said BOTSAT-1 project lead, Dimane Mpoeleng.
In an interview published on the BIUST website, “The facility will support continental radio astronomy and feed into the SKA.”
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A 2021 report by the World Economic Forum estimates that improved Earth observation data could unlock over $2billion in economic value for Africa by 2030.
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