Hello

Your subscription is almost coming to an end. Don’t miss out on the great content on Nation.Africa

Ready to continue your informative journey with us?

Hello

Your premium access has ended, but the best of Nation.Africa is still within reach. Renew now to unlock exclusive stories and in-depth features.

Reclaim your full access. Click below to renew.

Kenya Space Agency to launch two mini-rockets

Monicah Juma

Ministry of Defence Cabinet Secretary Monica Juma in Nairibi on February 25, 2021.

Photo credit: Francis Nderitu | Nation Media Group

The Kenya Space Agency (KSA) is set to launch two mini-rockets from the Malindi Space Centre in collaboration with the University of Rome in August.

The rockets will be launched using high altitude balloons, an improvement of the earlier huge rockets that were being launched in the 1980s and 1990s.

This was revealed yesterday during the opening of a space sector high-level engagement forum dubbed ‘The space sector we want in Kenya’ attended by Defence Cabinet Secretary Monicah Juma, KSA chairman Major-General (Rtd) James Arwasa, Kenya Civil Aviation Authority Director-General Gilbert Kibe and other stakeholders.

Use of high-altitude balloons as launch pads for mini-rockets and satellites reduces the cost of sending rockets into space, Mr Arwasa said.

He noted that, “satellites and rockets have become smaller because of advances in technology.

“We’ve students who are already working on building and launching the two at the Malindi Space Centre. We’re working with the University of Rome.”

The launch was pushed to August after seven professors involved in the project from Rome tested positive for Covid-19.

“We were expecting nine professors from the University of Rome to join us to witness these students launching the mini-rockets, but unfortunately seven tested positive for Covid-19,” Mr Arwasa said.

The benefits of having satellites in space include selling data collected to other countries. It also means availability of quality data for use in making efficient decisions in the fight against climate change, promotion of national security, enhancement of agriculture, learning, identifying areas with minerals through earth observation.

KSA, Mr Arwasa said, will ensure information is centralised and accessible to all to avoid duplication.