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Publication

AFRICAN DECISIONS

Page

109-112

Date

Thurs 01 Nov 2018

AVE (ZAR)

77298.33

PHOTOGRAPHYGALLO/GETTYIMAGES

>|AATTRACTIONSSatellitesof all sizesare opening up aworldof opportunity inAfrica- notonly in termsofscientificresearchbut for the man in the streettoo.BY RACHEL MCGREGOR

A FTE R winter this year, residents

of CapeTownhada reasonto be grateful.Following a devastating drought, the region

had been facingthe dreaded 'Day Zero' -whenmunicipalwaterwouldhavebeen cutoff,forcingpeople to queue at designatedpointsto collectjust 25 litresa day per person.

Fortunately , the rains came in mid-2018 and

dam levels recovered to more than 75% collec-tivelyassummerbegan.Of themajordamsthat servicethe Cape Townarea, the biggest isTheewaterskloof,nearVilliersdorp.Itscapacityisestimatedat around480millionm*butfollowingthe droughtit haddropped to about25%capacity.Bymid-Octoberit hadrecoveredto nearly60% full. Still not anywhereto makethe authorities really happy but enough to stopthem having nightmares.

While the dam gradually filled, a scientistatthe South African Environmental ObservationNetwork (SAEON), Glenn Moncrieff, used

a networkof tiny satellitesto capturetime-lapseimagesof the dam swellingaswaterflowed into it, Business Insider reported.

The satellites, made by a US companycalled Planet Labs, enabled him to create

a seriesof animationsshowingTheewaters-

kloof 'swater levelsbetween 2015 andthis year.

Planet Labs, based in San Francisco,

was formed by three former NASA scientists.

It builds tiny (they have been described asbread-loaf sized) satellites that are carried into

space in masslaunches. Unlike conventional

satellites, they orbit very close to Earth andhave limited lifespans(they are also cheapto build).

Formed in 2010, Planet Labs launched

itsfirst Dove satellite in 2013 and, in 2017,shot 88 into orbit aboard the Indian Space

ResearchOrganisation 'sPSLVrocket.A fewmonths later, a RussianSoyuz carried another

48. It recently raised around US$180 million

in funding, including fromGoogle.Planet Lab plans to upgrade softwareto its

satellites in a processthat would be familiarto usersof smartphones.'From the beginning,we had the notion that we didn't have to dospace the sameway it had been done before,saysMikeSafyan,PlanetLab'svice-presidentof launchand global ground stationnetworks,in an interview with the Los Angeles Times.

Smallsatellites,sometimesreferred to asnano satellites,are revolutionising the imagingof Earth aswell as communications, but the'big boys' (traditional larger satellites)have very

impor tantbenefitsintermsof connectivityfor

Africa.Big satellitescansend backimageswithfiner detailsasthey have larger cameras.Theyalso have much longerlifespans and a lotmoreonboardpower.

There have been several important deve-lopments recently regarding new satellite

deployment. Intelsat, the NewYorkStockExchange-listedcompany, for example, andAzercosmos, the national satellite operator of

Azerbaijan, in September launched the Intel-

sat38andAzerspace-2satellitesaboardanAriane 5 launchvehicle from the GuianaSpaceCentrein Kourou,FrenchGuiana.

According to the company, Intelsat 38 is

a Ku-bandsatelliteto be placedat the 45°Eorbital location to host direct-to-home [DTH]

platformsforCentraland EasternEuropeaswell asthe Asia-Pacificregion, and to provideconnectivity for corporate networks andgovernment applications in Africa.

'Today's successful launch is a great

exampleof the powerand valuederivedfromcollaborating with other satellite operators,"said Stephen Spengler, CEO of Intelsat, at the

launch.Azerspace-2will alsocover parts ofthe Africancontinent. They are expected toenter service in the first quarter of next year.

Intelsatcertainlyhasbeen busy. In Octoberit announced that it had invested in AfricaMobile Networks (AMN).

'The purpose of the investment is to acce-lerate the deployment of mobile connectivityto unserved communities acrossmultiplecountries in sub-Saharan Africa,' according

to the company.'Given the economic and geographic

complexitiesofexpandingmobileconnectivityto the ultra-rural areasof Africa, many mobilenetwork operators [MNOs] face barriers when

tryingto deploy theirnetworksto theseareas.AMN provides MNOs with a network-as-a-service [NaaS] solution in which AMN will fund,

build and operate the ultra-rural network forthe operators.

'As a result, Africanmobile operators willbe able to extend their coverage with minimalopex and capex risk, enabling them to growtheir subscriber and revenue base, and betterserve all their customers.'

AMN provides a 'small cell solution'poweredby solarpanels, whichcan beinstalled in only a few hours. 'Once installed,the sites will connect over the Intelsat fleet

to the coreof the mobile networkoperatorand deliver 2G mobile services,suchasGSMvoice, SMSand GPRS/EDGE packet data,with the ability to upgrade the base stations

( RNAMINGRIGHTS

What would you call SouthAfrica'snewest satellite? That's the challengefor the country's school pupils.

ZACube-2, its technical name, is

expected to be launched later thisyear but the South African NationalSpace Agency (Sansa) wants some-

thing a bit more, well, snappy.

It has asked pupils from grades 4 to

12 to come up with ideas, accordingto Business Insider. The cubesat (ornanosat) ZACube-2 comprises three10 cm cubes. It will orbit about

600 km above Earth.

Designed and built mostly by

postgraduate students at the CapePeninsulaUniversity of Technology'sFrench South African Institute of

Technology, the organisation thathasbeen driving South Africa's smallsatellite capabilities with funding

from the country's Department ofScience and Technology.

In 2013 South Africa launched

its first cubesat, ZACube-1 aboarda Dnepr rocket launch vehicle from theDombarovsky Cosmodrome, in Russia.

It wasgiven the name TshepisoSat,which means promise in Sotho.

Tshepisowassubmittedby a Grade 9pupil from the Eastern Cape province.

ZACube-2 will play a role inOperation Phakisa, the government'splan to unlock economic value from

the ocean. It believes the sea 'could

contribute up to ZAR177 billion to theGDP by 2033 and between 800 000and 1million direct jobs'. Nearly 50

initiativeshave been identified so far.The satellite will carry a ship-

tracking payload that will identifyvesselsoff the SouthAfricancoastline.According to Sansa, it will also havea secondary payload of medium-

resolution imagers for "imagingapplications', such as ocean colour

monitoring and fire tracking. Who-ever proposes the winning name willreceive a laptop and a visit to the

satellite while it's under construction.

The competition closes in November.

Source: SAASTA

to 3G and 4G as data demands allow

according to IntelsatThe company also announced an

agreement with Q-KON, a South African

telecoms engineering company, to introduce

high-speed broadt£the IntelsatOne Flex for Enterprise platform

'Combining a clatform with| C witnplat

terrestrial network

high-quality broadband that en ®J © in ©

services and applications for sma

nesses throughout Botswana, MozambiqueNamibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe and

Zambia," states Intelsat.

'Broadband connectivity is sO al

rapidly but it

h remote areas where broadband

vity can empower economic growth.

n Se

a company that designs, devel

tember, Belgium-based Ne

s and

manufactures technology and equipment for

satellite communications, signed a contractwith Arab Satellite Communications (Arabsat)

wtec,the contract will signalellitegh-throughput

(HTS) services in Africa and Middle East.

will focus on "introducing enter

VNO {virtual network operator] services, IP

trunking and mobile backhaul for 3G and4G services in the Middle East and Africa

regions' and, once in operation, the new

services will use Arabsat satellite capacity ,according to the company.

anwhile, UAE-based satellite operatoras launched its broadband service

ership with

dathe West

j in [1 very impor tant market'.

It is expected that the service will 'help

overcome the substantial economic lossesin re nt years due to frequent internet

breakdowns inAfrica'. YahClick will use

the Ka-band powered by the company's

ogydriving force behind the launch of

YahClick inGhana isour desire to serve the

country's specific connectivity needs anddeliver high-performance, customised satellite

broadband solutions to its businesses andcommunities," says Farhad Khan, chief

commercial officer of Yahsat

YahClick will be aimed at sectors such as

finance and resources, aswell as governmenthealthcar e and education initiatives

Nom ter whether they are big or small,a rise in the number of satellites in orbit over

Africa means more opportunities for not only

As Planet Lab'sSafyanpoints out: 'Really,we're optimising for different things. It's not

likethisway'sbetterthanthatway.' R

=

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