Sentinel-1 image courtesy of ESA.

At the start of the month we wrote about our new project, Earth Observation for Sustainable Aggregate Supply, in Kenya.

Last week we were delighted to learn that the Kenya Space Agency (KSA) launched their Strategic Plan (2020-2025), which included a commitment to develop their Earth Observation (EO) capability, with a speech by Dr Monica Juma, the Cabinet Secretary for Defense at Serena Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya.

The Strategic Plan, which can be found here, has four core strategic areas:

• Delivery of Space Services which aims to grow the demand for space services and has identified five key areas:
  1. Earth observation – with a focus on helping to monitor the environment, natural resources and disasters, together with understanding the changes happening in Kenya. As our project focuses on a number of these areas, it could be an exciting time to be involved.
  2. Navigation and positioning.
  3. Satellite communications.
  4. Space operations and systems engineering.
  5. Space science and astronomy.
• Developing National Space Capability which aims to develop national capability through an assessment of space potential for Kenya, creating opportunities for space sector growth, investments in human capacity, acquisition of critical infrastructure, promotion of research and undertaking education and awareness.
• Sector Coordination and Leadership which will include establishing a mechanism to enhance synergy among stakeholders including the national government and county governments that require the support of space technology-enabled services.
• Corporate Positioning and Sustainability will focus on communication strategy/policy to guide communications for both internal and external stakeholders, establish a Space Industry Development Fund to identify partners and funding, looking resource efficiency and sustainability.

Delivering this Strategic Plan will be through the Implementation and Co-ordination Framework built around:

1. Organisational Structure
2. Human Resource Strategy
3. Financial Strategy
4. Capacity Development
5. Risk Management
6. Workflow and Responsibility
7. Resource Mobilization Strategy]Communication Strategy
8. Institution Linkage and Co-ordination

This is a new phase for Kenya and space, but they have a proud history dating back over fifty years with the establishment of the Satellite Launching and Tracking Base in Malindi in collaboration with Italy. This base launched its first rocket on the 26^th April 1967, and was followed up by the Longonot Earth Station that became operational in 1970. On the 12^th December of that year NASA launched the Small Astronomical Satellite (SAS-1) from Malindi; the satellite was renamed as Uhuru, which means freedom in Swahili, to commemorate the seventh anniversary of Kenya’s independence.

1KUNS-PF (1st Kenyan University NanoSatellite-Precursor Flight) was the first Kenyan owned satellite to be launched into space, by being deployed from the International Space Station on the 11th May 2018. Developed and assembled by the University of Nairobi, this was an experimental educational mission aiming to create awareness of the benefits of space technology within Kenya. Using cameras it took images of Kenya and other East Africa countries for almost double its anticipated one-year mission life and was deorbited in June 2020.

Kenya’s National Space Secretariat was established in 2009, and eight years later the Kenya Space Agency order of 2017 established the Kenya Space Agency to co-ordinate, nurture and develop Kenya’s space sector to maximise the utilisation of space opportunities. It’s an exciting time be working in the space sector in Kenya, and the intention is that the EO4SAS project will collaborate with the KSA so as to align the projects aims with their EO objectives.

Blog produced with support from NIRAS Africa.