SOUTH AFRICAN NANOSATELLITE SUCCESSFULLY DEPLOYED FROM INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION
Weighing just 2,5 kg, South Africa's first privately-owned nanosatellite, nSight1, has been successfully sent into orbit from the International Space Station (ISS). Deployed on 24 May, nSight1 will orbit Earth and capture images with a remote sensing camera.
Locally designed and built by SCS Space, a member of the SCS Aerospace Group, nSight1 was constructed over a period of six months using the entire available space infrastructure in South Africa. It is the first time a private company in Africa has invested in building and launching a satellite.
"The satellite is an important milestone, demonstrating the outcome of the capability established through the Department of Science and Technology's (DST) ongoing investment in the South African space programme. More than 70% of the satellite is made up of satellite components supplied by enterprises in the South African space industry," said Mmboneni Muofhe, the DST’s Deputy Director-General: Technology Innovation.
The DST has welcomed the deployment of nSight1. South Africa has been involved in space research and technology for 50 years. The first locally designed and manufactured satellite, SUNSAT, was launched in 1999. NSight1's deployment follows the successful launch of South African satellites since the late nineties, including SUNSAT (1999), SumbandilaSat (2009) and the Cape Peninsula University of Technology's ZACUBE-1 satellite (2013).
NSight1 was part of a batch of 28 nanosatellites from 23 different countries, launched on 18 April 2017 from Cape Canaveral in Florida, United States of America. After reaching the ISS, the nanosatellites were unloaded and deployed by the ISS team.
The main objectives of nSight1's mission are to demonstrate a patented coding technique developed at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and to showcase the space capabilities of private companies in South Africa.
Hendrik Burger, CEO for SCS Space, said the company was delighted to be part of an international project that had put South Africa on the international satellite map.
