Satellites will brighten Nigeria’s future

 

 

Governor Idris Wada of Kogi State has said the launch of satellites into space by the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) would brighten the future of the country and boost its revenue base.

Wada, who disclosed this on Monday when he paid a visit to the space agency in Abuja, said space technology is the way to grow the economy.

The governor said his state would collaborate with NASRDA in the area of Geographic Information System to help in tax collection and land mapping. He urged the agency to help set up space technology courses in the state owned tertiary institutions. Earlier in his presentation, the Director General of NASRDA Dr Seidu Mohammed said satellite would be launched on Nigerian ground in 2030.

He said since the launch Nigerian satellite since 2011, the country has been saving N2bn annually hitherto spent on satellite imagery taken for the country by foreign countries.

NASRDA’s DG also said the agency recently used the Nigerian satellite Sat-2 to take image of Mali, adding that this has been helping the Nigerian soldiers serving in that country’s peace mission.

 

Meanwhile, Nigeria plans to acquire a new satellite to capture images of coastal areas, this was disclosed by the Director-General, National Space Research and Development Agency, Dr. Seidu Mohammed, he said this in an address delivered at the National Space Dialogue and Media Conference, which opened in Abuja on Thursday 5th April.

He said the planned new satellite was to make up for the inadequacy of existing satellites.

 

Currently, Nigeria has three earth observation satellites and one communication satellite in space. Nigeria space mission began in 2003 by launching Nigeria Sat-1 which has a resolution 32m and belongs to Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC). Although its lifespan has elapsed.

The rest the satellite includes Nigeria Sat-2, Nigeria Sat-X and NigComSat which was later replaced with NigComSat-1 after the former got lost in the space.

 

Watch out for my next article on Nigeria Space Missions