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By Dr Masimba Mavaza

Zimbabwe has launched its first satellite on November 7, 2022 onto the International Space Station for subsequent deployment into orbit at a later date.

The satellite, ZimSat-1, was launched at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on the Northrop Grumman (NG-18 Cygnus) commercial cargo resupply services to the ISS).

Speaking on the launch, the coordinator of the Zimbabwe National Geospatial and Space Agency (ZINGSA), Dr Painos Gweme, said the ISS crew members will deploy ZIMSAT-1 into space through the Japanese KiboCUBE module aboard the ISS.

“It is going to be deployed in the KIBO module; it happens two or three weeks after launch, and we have scheduled it for November 21,” he said.

According to Space in Africa, the launch represents a milestone that will improve mineral exploration and monitoring of environmental hazards and droughts. Likewise, it will assist in mapping human settlements and disease outbreaks and deliver photos with a 20-metre resolution to help with analyses of water quality, soil fertility, land use, and cover.

As expected some people have failed to see the wisdom of President ED Mnangagwa in taking such a bold move.

They have argued that the monies used for the satellite would have been channelled in other more demanding areas like health and infrastructure. It is always difficult to please everybody but let us unpack all this.

The space industry is undergoing vast transformation as the private sector and some government agencies race to enable new technology capabilities.

In today’s dynamic environment, countries must produce unprecedented satellite and launch vehicle volumes, manufacturing on accelerated timelines while ensuring programme success.

Industries should meet these challenges by optimizing test performance to efficiently design, validate, and deliver satellites and launch vehicles across their product life cycles and differentiate against increasing competition. What are the benefits of launching satellites?

Satellites that circle the globe provide the most accurate weather reports and warn us of impending storms; they monitor our climate every day, helping to track increasing rates of climate change and its effects, such as rising seas and changing moisture levels, wildfires and atmospheric changes; they connect millions of people.

When a country has a foresight of tomorrow, it will be better prepared to face it without harm to itself.

Instead of criticising President Mnangagwa, they must examine the role of satellites in their everyday lives and depict what their lives would be like without them.

As humans we must develop a better understanding of the impact of satellite technology, its relevance to our societal needs, and to link the science lessons to a meaningful real world context.

Satellites are important to us in many ways that we often take for granted. They provide us with radio and cable television. They allow us to make cellular phone calls from long distances to next door.

They provide us with a global positioning system (GPS) so that we know exactly where we are and we can find directions to anywhere we want to go.

They circle the earth and relay weather conditions and forecasts. Governments use them to spy on other countries in order to protect themselves.

They are used for space research, which includes the observation of the sun and provide us with early warnings of upcoming solar flares.

These solar flares have been known to knock out various satellite communication links, which allow us to use our credit cards and to use beepers.

Satellites even monitor crops and tell farmers which fields need to be fertilized in order to produce healthy crops of corn and other foods.

All of these satellite services are very valuable to us and will be the new magic for Zimbabwe’s economic development.

Satellite technology reached the areas of remote sensing, communication, and navigation, provide valuable information in a number of areas from business to disaster management to agriculture.

There is great potential for such technology to help solve problems in developing countries. Unfortunately, due to lack of funds, expertise, equipment or awareness, developing countries are not using satellite technology to its full potential.

The President of Zimbabwe is motivated by a desire to increase and improve the use of satellite-based technology in Zimbabwe and all developing countries. President Mnangagwa is fighting the corrupted monopoly to protect the national telecommunications providers to reduce competition and increase prices for the Zimbabweans.

Concerning navigation services, the governments that own global navigation satellites systems can limit navigation services such as the US government when limiting the precision of the location information from GPS. Consequently developing countries are powerless when depending on others for such space services.

By launching the Satellite President Mnangagwa is confronting the superiority of the United States in the Location Based Services’ industry as a monopoly since the DOD initiated the US GPS system in the 1970s.

African countries have a very high dependency on satellites, with the majority of the countries having more than 95% of their international traffic carried by satellite.

With almost all of Africa’s international bandwidth provided by satellite, there is great potential for Zimbabwe to share the satellite for a small fee.

Although the lack of funds, expertise, equipment or awareness has contributed to developing countries not using satellite technology to its full potential Zimbabwe has set eyes on finishing this unfairness.

Besides other reasons, Zimbabwe’s motivation to join into the space club countries is to increase its international political profile. A country with space technology capability is perceived to be on certain ranks in the space club pyramid.

Those who understand technology have argued exhaustively the compelling role of space-based technology in sustainable development of industrially developing countries.

One would be surprised by how much of our everyday lives are reliant on satellite signals. They permeate almost every sector, making people safer, our lives more efficient, and revolutionising the way our national infrastructure works.

Timing signals are some of the most critical satellite functions. As one of the primary features of navigational satellites, they have real-time consequences and a widespread reach.

From everyday individual uses, such as searching for café recommendations “near me”, to complex systems, such as managing transport logistics, navigation is the backbone of many of society’s most critical services.

Communication services are growing in number and frequency. They are becoming increasingly integral across the world and sectors. Devices are being integrated into more organisations and more and more communications services are spreading beyond urbanised cities into more rural areas.

Satellites play an essential role in our everyday lives. In fact, they contribute to our well-being and make it possible for us to meet many important needs and challenges on earth.

Satellite data helps to support the economy to ensure public safety and national defence, to manage emergency situations, monitor the environment and protect public health.

The launching of the satellite by Zimbabwe should be applauded. It will save Zimbabwe billions of dollars.

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