As of 2022, at least 13 African countries had made 48 satellites, but none of them had been sent into space from Africa.

Kenya's first working satellite will be launched next week, the government said on Monday. This is a big step forward for the country's space program.


Taifa-1, which means "one nation" in Swahili, is set to be launched on April 10 from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

In a joint statement, the Defense Ministry and the Kenya Space Agency said that the mission was a big step forward and that it would help a lot with the country's "emerging space economy."


The statement said that Kenyan engineers "fully designed and developed" the observation satellite, which will be used to collect data on agriculture and food security, among other things.

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It also said that the parts were tested and made with the help of a Bulgarian aerospace manufacturer.


Kenya, which is the economic powerhouse of East Africa, is going through its worst drought in decades because five rainy seasons haven't come.


The launch of the satellite will add to the efforts of African countries to improve science and build up their space programs.


In 1998, Egypt was the first country in Africa to send a satellite into space.


Kenya's first test nanosatellite was sent into space from the International Space Station in 2018.


Space in Africa, a Nigerian company that keeps track of African space programs, says that by 2022, at least 13 African countries had made 48 satellites. Ethiopia, Angola, South Africa, Sudan, and other countries are among them.

Space in Africa says that as of November 2022, more than 50 African satellites had been launched, but none from Africa.


In January, the government of Djibouti signed an agreement with a Hong Kong company to build a commercial spaceport that will cost $1 billion and take five years to finish.

SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES