ALANA KRUGER: UK-Africa partnerships to boost the continent’s space race ambitions

On a crisp Californian winter’s day 25 years ago, a Delta II rocket blasted off from the Vandenberg Air Force Base. For locals, it was just another humdrum launch. But half a world away a group of SA engineers nervously bit their fingernails and stared intently at their computer screens while tracking the rocket’s progress.

On board was a small package about as big as a cooler box, with the official designation “SO-35”, standing for Sunsat Oscar 35. 

Built by postgraduate engineering students at the University of Stellenbosch and costing about $5m, including the launch, Sunsat was the first miniaturised satellite designed and manufactured in Africa. It was a milestone for Africa’s space industry. Since then several other African countries, including Rwanda, Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana have ventured into satellite ownership, while Uganda and Zimbabwe have also since sent up their first satellites. Yet, despite punching far above its weight, Africa’s space industry continues to fly largely under the radar.   

In a new report published last week Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, found that while Africa’s space industry is decades younger than those in the US, UK, Europe, Russia and China it is nevertheless a world leader in several areas. However, Africa’s space sector could be boosted into a higher orbit through a strong international partnership network. Taking its cue from the report, Innovate UK has begun building a UK-Africa Space Global Innovation Network to help space businesses and organisations in the public and private sectors realise the innovation, economic and social benefits a co-ordinated and collaborative space sector stands to deliver.

The report is derived from lessons learnt during a UK-Africa Space Technology Knowledge Exchange tour, which saw space sector experts from SA, Kenya, Rwanda and other pan-African organisations visit several UK space industry companies and facilities. This included studies of the Harwell Science & Innovation Campus, Space Park Leicester and SaxaVord Spaceport, as well as meeting with the Scottish parliament and European Space Agency’s Business Incubation Centre, with an emphasis on ecosystem building and opportunities to forge partnerships to tackle common challenges.

A key report finding was that though both regions have distinct advantages and differences, there is plenty of scope for mutually beneficial collaboration. To put this into perspective, Africa’s space sector, which lifted off in 1999, employs about 19,000 skilled people and contributed over $19.49bn (R370bn) to the continent’s economy in 2021. Led by SA, Kenya and Rwanda, the sector is on course to grow by 16.16% to $22.64bn (about R432bn) over the next two years.

By comparison, its UK counterpart, established in the 1950s, today employs over 45,000 people and is worth £16.4bn (about R393bn) according to recent UK Department of Business & Trade data. Despite its marginally smaller sector, Africa has world-class upstream capabilities thanks to its homegrown skills and expertise, with the capacity to design and manufacture highly technical components. And they exist in markets that are hungry to apply space technologies for communications, data exchange, earth observation, space weather monitoring and space data for air, land and sea navigation, urban planning, spatial development, minerals exploration, agriculture, water management, broadcasting and telecom, crime prevention, food security, border management, national security and a myriad other important applications we rely on in our day-to-day lives.

Africa’s space industry is subject to the same constraints as other sectors, notably the need for capital when economic growth is slow, rising costs through inflation and currency devaluation, and governments that have competing demands on the public purse. Space policy, regulations and the capacity to formulate, co-ordinate and provide oversight of these are other challenges the industry faces.

The UK’s space industry faced similar challenges and used them to build a robust ecosystem that extends beyond the scientific, academic and engineering realms to include policy formulation, investors, finance, risk, insurance and commercial expertise. The outcome has been a resilient, sustainable and well-co-ordinated sector that continues to attract fresh talent, promotes research & development (R&D), and provides innovative space-based solutions.  

Africa boasts all the ingredients of a globally competitive space industry, and according to Innovate UK’s report, deeper relations with the UK could help it navigate around many of these challenges. As such, the report recommends the formation of a UK-Africa Space Network. This would establish and strengthen relations between the UK and African space sectors — including national space agencies, R&D, manufacturing and commercial sectors — ultimately helping to transform Africa’s space sector so it can fulfil its potential.

• Kruger is knowledge transfer manager for SA at Innovate UK Business Connect.