Kenya’s recent satellite launch deserves befitting celebration

Quite often, in jurisdictions such as ours where at times political volume gets quite high, momentous developments can pass unsung.

We are in one such a moment. We recently launched a satellite. But how many Kenyans know? How many young learners who the news should fire into pursuing space technology or related sciences got to know?

The news never made the front or back page of any local newspaper. It didn’t trend sufficiently on social media either.

Yet its implication for development in Kenya is tremendous. For a young developing nation yearning to join the developed League of Nations through the application of science, this is as bad as it could get.

When Neil Armstrong, the American astronaut and aeronautical engineer became the first person to reach and walk the moon in 1969, the world fired up.

Even local dailies were awash with his profile, and news on the event. It was as though the event happened next door.

While not an equivalent, Kenya’s recent launch of a functional satellite into space through the Kenya Space Agency is a scientific milestone befitting commensurate celebration.

Such accolades not only inspire the team involved but also create a buzz around which popularise technology and space science locally.

Science and technology will drive development this century. So the more scholars and industrialists we interest and move into this field, the better for our nation. So what happened?

On April 15, Kenya’s space satellite Taifa-1 was launched into space from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California in the US. Taifa-1 was among 51 satellites deployed into space by SpaceX Falcon-9, a space rocket.

Rockets are high-speed space vehicles used to launch satellites into space for various purposes. Satellites feed a range of uses, including communication, earth observation, global positioning, navigation and even weather forecasting.

So what benefits do Kenyans expect from Taifa-1?

Taifa-1 is an earth observation satellite expected to overfly Kenya after every few days during its life in space. It is equipped with an optical camera that will take images of the earth while overflying Kenya’s territory.

The data-loaded images collected will be transmitted to a ground station in Kenya from where the data will be processed and disseminated.

The power of the technology and methodology is in the ability to capture countrywide data on different days for long periods.

This makes it possible to accumulate vast amounts of earth data amenable to expert analysis to serve multiple needs.

Such data will reveal the trends of various phenomena within Kenya. It will, for instance, be useful for agricultural purposes, including the impact of rainfall or drought on crop yields and food security.

It will be useful for land use and spatial planning. It can be used to monitor climate change and the effects of afforestation or deforestation. It’s invaluable data. Congratulations to our space agency.