Zimbabwe has announced its plans to expand its presence in space with the launch of three new satellites.
One of the satellites, ZimSat-2, an Earth Observation satellite, is said to have reached the advanced features stage and is set to launch in late 2024.
The development of the two other satellites is currently in its early production stages, following the approval of the government of Zimbabwe.
Recall that the southern African country had successfully launched ZimSat-1, its initial Earth Observation CubeSat, into space in November 2022.
According to Mthuli Ncube, Zimbabwe’s Minister for Finance and Economic Development, the country has partnered with Japan to complete this project, just like the previous one.
As part of the collaboration, Japan will train graduates to lay the groundwork for Zimbabwe to manufacture its satellites in the future.
Ncube added that more satellites will be worked on when these three are launched.
The Coordinator of the Zimbabwe National Geospatial and Space Agency (ZINSGA), Painos Gweme, assured that the government would announce the progress on ZimSat-2 in June 2024.
He also reaffirmed the country’s long-term goal of manufacturing space satellites domestically.
“The main purpose of these earth observation satellites is to provide scientific data on the country’s current situation,” Gweme explained.
The ZimSat-1 satellite was an educational Earth Observation Cubesat designed to map land use, land cover, and monitor water quality, transmitting data from orbit to the command center at the Mazowe ground station.
ZimSat-1 has since become critical in agricultural and mining mapping initiatives.
The ZimSat-2 will also be an Earth observation satellite, but with more capabilities.
