All you need to know about African Space Agency

In a bid to enhance their space technology, the African Union Commission (AUC) and the Egyptian Government have recently inked an agreement to establish a permanent headquarters for the African Space Agency (AfSA) at Egypt’s Space City.

The agreement provides the general framework regulating the relationship between AUC and the Egyptian side, which will serve as a massive platform for space research and innovation on the continent.

According to a statement, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Mohamed Ashour said Egypt’s hosting of the headquarters will contribute to further developing the space industry in Africa while also meeting the continent’s needs in marketing space services and industry.

This will accordingly benefit economic growth within Africa and provide more job opportunities, he noted.

In the same connection, Ashour assured the delegation of the Egyptian Government’s keenness to fulfill its promise to implement a permanent headquarters for the AfSA, aiding in the continent’s aspirations to advance the space science technology sector.

The Agency is expected to become the epicenter of Africa’s collaboration with Europe and other non-African partners in the space industry. 

Accordingly, the Agency is to properly implement the African space policy and strategy and realize continental goals as the official space body tasked with coordinating and implementing Africa’s space policy.

According to Space in Africa, the Agency will develop an intra-African registry with universal guidelines for countries intending to create space agencies in Africa. Furthermore, it would promote technological development across all member states.

The idea behind the Agency goes back to Twenty-Sixth Ordinary Session held on 31 January 2016 in Addis Ababa, the African Union Heads of State and Government adopted the African Space Policy and Strategy as the first concrete steps towards an integrated, prosperous, and peaceful use of outer space.

Three years later, the AU put out a bid to find the most suitable country to host the headquarters of the newly formed continental space entity. 

In 2019, the Commissioner for Human Resources Science and Technology (HRST), H.E Professor Sarah Anayang Agbor, declared that Egypt, Ethiopia and Nigeria were shortlisted by an independent high-level panel as possible host countries for the Agency’s headquarters. Shortly after, Egypt was declared the host country after fulfilling all technical and political requirements.

In 2021, the AUC conducted baseline studies on the four-space segments and the space socio-economic benefits for establishing and operationalizing the AfSA.

The study aimed to facilitate the achievement of one of the fundamental aspirations of the African Space Policy and Strategy and to develop a sustainable and vibrant indigenous space industry that promotes and responds to Africa’s needs.

The African Space Agency, upon operationalization, will be the focal point of Africa’s collaboration with Europe and other non-African partners. Furthermore, according to the Agency’s establishing statute, the African Space Agency Act, one of the agency’s objectives is to strengthen “space missions on the continent to ensure optimal access to space-derived data, information, services, and products.”

Several stakeholders have hailed AfSA as the most important achievement for Africa in space, which will stop duplication and redundancy in space activities. In addition, AfSA is expected to properly implement the African space policy and strategy and achieve continental goals as the official space body tasked with coordinating and implementing Africa space policy.

With AfSA in full gear, it will promote technology development across all member states, helping to transition from a resource-dependent industry to a knowledge-based one that intensely leverages digital technologies at its core, said Satnews.

Satnews also noted that the agency will also design an intra-African registry with universal guidelines for countries intending to create space agencies in Africa. This Pan-African guideline would be useful in adopting and regulating the use of space across the continent to ensure the inclusion of every region.