Human Spaceflight: The coming war of space tycoons VVVolVolVolVol o6 o6 66l l. .No. NoNo. No79 N N 55 oo5.. 5 July 2018 2021 AFRICA SPECIAL EDITION The rise SPECIALTheof underwater rise REPOR of T Nigeria drones in the maritime environment A new leader and player in the aerospace industry C O N T E N T S Vol.9 No. 5 Unleashing the full potential of Africa’s Blue Economy Editor in-chief Aliyu Bello From land to water, drones are now everywhere Executive Manager Tonia Gerrald Teaching Astronomy to teenagers SA to the editor in-Chief Ngozi Okey Unveiling Nigeria GeoPortal Head, Application Services M. Yakubu Meteorite tracked to its birthplace in the asteroid belt Editorial/ICT Services John Daniel 30 years since the Earth observation Usman Bello satellite ERS-1 was launched Alozie Nwankwo Europe's biggest startup and tech event Juliet Nnamdi Trends affecting media landscape in sub Saharan Africa Client Relations Sunday Tache Delivering content to any screen Lookman Bello MultiChoice delivers strong results in Q1 Safiya Thani Marketing Offy Pat Living in the Dawn of a Golden Era of Space Exploration Tunde Nathaniel Unlocking Africa's full EO potential with EU Space synergies Wasiu Olatunde India’s Chandrayaan-2 Solar X-ray monitor unravels mysteries of the Media Relations Favour Madu Solar Corona Khadijat Yakubu The rise of underwater drones Zacheous Felicia in maritime environment Finance Folarin Tunde Sateliot, Spanish MoD promotes first Nanosatellite constellation Human Spaceflight: The coming war of space tycoons Space Watch Magazine is a publication of Communication Science, Inc. 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Cover source NASA 1 \ 35 2009 2010 2012 2014 2016 - - REVIEW Unleashing the full potential of Africa’s Blue Economy Africa is endowed with a vast network of aquatic A recent report revealed that African Blue average annual rate of 8% over the past 5 resources and extensive interconnected oceans. Economy sectors and components years, compared to a global 5% change. The African lake zones cover approximately generated a value of USD 296 billion with 49 The traffic in the African harbours should 240,000 km², while its trans-boundary river million jobs. It is projected that by 2030, exceed 2 billion of tons by 2063 versus 500 basins cover approximately 64 per cent of the figures will be respectively USD 405 billion million in 2018. The Increased port traffic will continent's land area. The total length of Africa's and 57 million jobs while in 2063 estimates be done thanks to the modernization of the coastline is some 26,000 km, making the African would respectively be USD 576 billion of ports that can progressively accommodate maritime domain extremely important for value created and 78 millions of jobs. The the latest generation of large ships more commercial, environmental, developmental and number of jobs would correspond to about than 21 000 TFE. The creation of sub- security reasons. There are more than 100 ports 5% of the active population in 2063. The regional maritime shipping companies, of in Africa, 52 of which handle containers and main driving sectors of the Blue Economy cabotage companies and the development transnational trade. The continent's maritime are tourism, both in term of value added and of transport corridors with the application of economy is estimated to represent some 90 per jobs created; the mineral sector, and the Oil freight rates will furthermore allow African cent of its total commerce. and Gas that have a strong contribution to shippers to transport their cargoes at For three-quarters of the African continent, the the value added but a low participation in the reasonable costs. blue or ocean economy is its principal economy job creation process. The fishery sector will and, if well used, could be a potent engine for remain stable, with a high number of people Fishery economic growth. The new and developing employed while the aquaculture will The capture fisheries production, currently industries in a blue or ocean economy include continue to grow in next decades. Port and standing at 10 million tonnes, is expected to aquaculture; marine renewable energy shipping will grow at a constant rate. The remain fairly constant throughout 2063 due technologies for wind, wave and tidal energy; value of blue carbon and other ecosystem to, inter alia, overfishing, overcapacity and bioproducts such as pharmaceutical and services generated by coastal, marine and poor governance. The total gross value- agrichemical; blue or ocean carbon including aquatic ecosystems will progressively added of the fisheries in Africa is estimated carbon storage in mangroves, seagrass and increase as conservation efforts expand. at USD 21 billion or 1.26% of the GDP saltmarsh; and desalination. A blue or ocean Education and research will follow the same (USD1.9 trillion) of all African countries. economy open doors for Africa's industrialization pattern due to a growing demand for Marine artisanal fisheries contribute the and economic development.6 Fresh water and knowledge, especially in the area of deep- most at USD 8.1 billion, followed by marine marine fish contribute to the food security of over sea mining, offshore exploration and climate industrial fisheries and inland fisheries at 200 million people in Africa and provide an change mitigation and adaptation. USD 6.8 billion and 6.3 billion respectively. income for over 10 million people. In May 2014, In 2018, the fisheries sector employs about the African Union estimated the first-sale value of Port and shipping 13 million people of which 7 million were African fisheries marine, inland and aquaculture Although Africa still has a relatively small fishers and 6 million were processors. More to be US$19.7 billion per annum. It also impact in international trade about 3% of than half of the fishers are employed in estimated that there would be an additional world volumes, African shipping follows the inland fisheries and the largest share of US$2 billion available annually for African upward trend in the world. As a result, traffic processors work in marine artisanal economies if the fisheries sector were to be in African container ports has grown at an fisheries. managed sustainably. 4 REVIEW 1.3% over the last decade. The sector has potential for expansion and growth as most areas are yet to be exploited. The contribution to employment in 2018 was estimated at 24 million jobs in Africa at annual growth rate of 5.6% compared to global average of 3.9%. This provides potential opportunity for economic development. In 2030 the value added generated by the coastal tourism should exceed 100 billion with 28 million people employed while in 2063, it should generate 138 billion of value added with an employment figure of 35 million. The strong development of the continental tourism will boost the demand for tourism services and infrastructures. The development of eco- tourism will contribute to the conservation of ecosystems and reduce the ecological footprint. Blue Carbon and other ecosystem services Blue Carbon is part of a Blue Economy with an opportunity to develop coastal wetland projects to mitigating climate change. The planning of blue carbon conservation projects and evaluating how ecosystems can be more effectively included within existing policy frameworks, carbon financing mechanisms such as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Land Degradation (REDD+) and other UNFCCC mechanisms are essential to restoring and protecting marine ecosystems. There is also a great opportunity for Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) for adapting and mitigating climate change in existing frameworks for carbon offsets referred to as carbon credits. Coastal protection, biomass production, water purification, etc., are among the most important ecosystem services delivered by aquatic ecosystems. Their current value is Aquaculture estimated to the average monetary value of The African aquaculture sector records the Ocean mining carbon sequestration of about USD 130 000 per km2 of mangrove, salt marshes and sea fastest growth in the world between 2006-2018, Deep-seabed and seawater mining are the new grasses. At the scale of Africa, the value is averaging 10% or more and is expected to frontier with huge potential. The value of top estimated at USD 40 billion in 2018 annually partially fill the growing fish supply-demand gap sea-bed mining minerals such as diamond, with a potential growth to USD 45 billion in up to 2063. The value of aquaculture is estimated gold, cobalt, zinc and copper in Africa could 2030 to USD 70 billion in 2063 with an at USD 2.77 billion. Despite huge potential, the reach a value added of about USD 6 billion. On effective protection and restoration of growth is confined to fewer countries with Egypt the other hand, if African countries exploit about coastal, marine and freshwater ecosystems. accounting for nearly 70% at 1.37 million tonnes 2% of the market value from seawater mining of of the total 1.98 million tonnes while Nigeria 10% of global production from seawater ranked second with 300 thousand tonnes. In potential, it is worth about USD 50 billion of Research and Education 2018, there were about 1.2 million aquafarmers value added.