space activities in Africa
Africa as a continent ventured into space in the 60's with countries like algeria and morocco. other countries followed suit with capacity building especially in satellite remote sensing technology applications. today in many african countries satellite services are avialable for communication, navigation earth observation, telemedicine etc and many countries have space services regulatory bodies, with some having fully operational space agencies. however access to information about the space activities going on in various african countries is very hard to find, only a few countries have websites that provide this information.
information availability has proved to be a catalyst for growth and investment, most successful organisations provide free information about their services and this has helped them to get a global spread of customers. if one wishes to invest in africa, it will need information about the available capacity, infrastructure and points of contacts for possible collaboration.
there is a need to provide information about the activities going on in african countries: the ministries, agencies, institutions, companies, societies that utilize/ provide,teach and promote space in africa.
i am trying to gather this information starting with the member states of the UNCOPOUS,i have contacted a number of people, so far the response has been slow but encouraging so i ask for input from members of SGAC about anykind of space body in any african country. name, interest(RS, NAV, COMM etc), address, contact person, services, etc . my interest includes private companies....i wish to get as much as i can about each country.
do help out with any infor u have and lets get the ' yellow pages of space activities in africa'
zahrah musa
Hello Zahrah,
I completely agree with you that accessible information is important for investors, and I think also for international cooperation to take place. This is the address to the website of the Nigerian space program (http://www.nasrda.org/) which lists information on programs and includes emails of some of the directors of the organization. I hope that site can be useful for you.
I research and write on space programs and international cooperation dealing with many different countries and agencies and I am very interested to find out what is happening in Africa. I'll post anything else I find that might help you, and I would be very interested in what you find. Good luck!
Ari Litwin (ari.litwin@gmail.com)
i really appreciate your input. yes i have this website listed and i hope to actually speak to them so i can include a contact person within the guide. i look forward to more mails from you, and hope we can have an exchange of infor when i have something you might need... thanks
zahrah.
indeed the issue of lack of information can be blamed on reluctance by africans to talk about themselves. we have allowed others to do all the talking for us to the extent that we now believe they know us better. but then what happens in the case where the next person has alot to do and consequently no time for u?
we must do our best to remember who we are and try to give a definition for it.
zahrah.
Dear Zahrah.
Try the link below provides space Activities in south Africa.
http://www.space.gov.za/downloads/Supporting_doc_3.pdf
best regards.
Zahrah,
Have you seen the website of the African Regional Centre for Space Science and Technology Education (http://www.arcsstee.org/general.htm)? This is the site for English speaking African countries, and it looks like there is another for French speaking countries. If I keep sending information you are already aware of, sorry about that.
I agree with you that Africans need to stand up and talk about themselves. I can't find any articles in the scholarly journal databases I use about space issues in Africa. Once you have compiled your information, it can hopefully be used to write about the current state of space development in Africa. Even a survey paper would help get information out there.
Ari Litwin
i am actaully a product of that centre so yes i am aware of it...but to tell the truth even though its in my head , i am yet to include it! so your mail is very important.
indeed if i do come up with something worth while, i hope someone intelligent will use it to write something concrete about space issues in africa. there is need for information out there!
thanks again,
zahrah
as part of the efforts to gather this information, i have started a public wiki.
feel free to visit and add what ever info u have.
make suggestions if u please.
http://wwwafricaspaceactivities.pbwiki.com
cheers!
zahrah
hi all, as you know the project is going on as planned. i am so grateful for lots of input from young people all over the wolrd.
the wiki i started is on course, but i really am not good with it ...
so i am asking for help from anyone who knows anything about web design , i need assistance to make that wiki site look good and appealing enough for someone to want to take the time to browse through.
also i will love to have a volunteer to help me enter information into the wiki (since my scope is the entire continent of africa, there's alot of data to input).
hope to hear from someone soon.
waiting,
zahrah
Dear Zahran!
I have been inspired with your good ideas and I have asked you several time to tell me in which part of Africa are coming from and on how we can work together.
Concerning the issue of webpage, we as African we have our own page within the space generation webpage you can utilize that page incase of anything concerning Africa.
Go to www.spacegeneration.org/africa, so if you have anything that you want to feature into it you just let me know.
Yes Sebastian!
as a RC it is not that I have the information already in my mind NO!Whatever that should be put on the webpage in Africa depends on the inputs from the NPoCs, to bring to me what they have done and what they have plan to do on the space arena, but if they dont then it becomes difficult for me to feature the staffs on the webpage, but you are also welcome if you have anything you can bring to me and I am going to put it on the website African page.
so sorry to be soooo scarce. i like the idea of having an african website, and i promise to take a look at it as soon as i have a little free time. for now i am overwhelmed with my report and wiki and and my abstract has just been accepted for the AARSE conference in Ghana.
indeed this project has educated me about africa and made me feel less of a nigerian and more of an african.
so i believe i will have something good to write on that site.
catch you guys there!
ok now down to space in africa project.
i am happy to inform that the project has a got a very important collaboration and will be published on the SERVIR -AFRICA portal which will soon be launched by the SERVIR Team. the collaboration includes having input from the SDI-Africa community and the continues updating of the information. Information about the project will be published in the september issue of the newsletter.
to all you well wishers out there, thanks for your input.
Zahrah
Yes Zahrah!
Thanx for the initiatives that you have put on the development of the website where you put the project on the African space activities, and because we have the same page which is all about the space activities in Africa I would kindly request you to allow me to use some of the information from http://wwwafricaspaceactivities.pbwiki.com, to develop the African page because it is all about the same thing, and so that we can reach more people through different ways.
Waiting to hear from you.
hey castory, its good you are interested in the info, i will of course be happy if you find something useful in there to use for the website.
I am however working on a seperate document which will constitute a report for ISU, it might be more useful for the space generation website.
will tell you more when i do the analysis.
take care
zahrah
Hello Zahrah!
I do appreciate for your kind consideration, Africa is ours, and we are the one who have to make it alive and to make it move, so it is good for us to join our forces together in bringing Africa to the pick.
I will be waiting for the document.
Just to ask!Will you attend the SGC or IAC this year?Personal I will participate in all the events which are going to take place in Glasgow, Scotland.
Ok Zahrah!
I understand but I would real be happy if you could manage to come, but it is ok next year in Korea, well I am still waiting for the information, never mind about the time you just be free, concentrate into your studies, when you get time you can send them to me.
Have a great study!
hi all, just to inform that the project report has been submitted and the first phase is over. it has been accepted and will soon be available. however entry into the wiki is still ongoing and every information will provided by you will be well appreciated.
more entries can be made at: http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pHHPOL72mNRjfsa2rSDTQJQ
thanks and cheers!
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Joined: 2008-05-28