The space race is a battle of big minds and miniature satellites. Much remains to be done but outer space could potentially be a trillion-dollar industry that Africa will also cash in on. BY KAREN MWENDERA rittany Bull is only 18 years old but can already add ‘space scientist’ to her resume. She is part of a team building Bone of South Africa’s first privately-owned nanosatellites to launch into space. “The space industry is about exploration and exploration only happens when you do - something nobody else has done before,” says Bull, her face lighting up like the moon. The teenager grew up in a small, sleepy town called Strandfontein in the Western Cape province of South Africa where starry THE nights are more the norm than satellites. But Bull has ambitions for herself and the planet. She is currently studying engineering and is ambassador for a space program at FUTURE IS XinaBox, an Internet of Things (IoT) and electronics development solution focused on coding. The nanosatellites Bull is working on will be released by a rocket at an altitude of LOOKING approximately 250km, and will travel to the International Space Station (ISS). “That’s extreme low earth orbit. That’s the first time a satellite is going to fly in that orbit and it’s the first time a satellite that small is going to fly,” she says. Five nanosatellites “linked together in a thin film of solar panels” will fit in a box UP similar to a CubeSat (a miniaturized satellite for space research). me Images / Supplied Celetis and Charles Smith via Getty Danita Delimont by Photos space news / African / XinaBox Limited & Spave Sky Flights morial Space 30 | FORBES AFRICA DECEMBER 2018 - JANUARY 2019 FORBES AFRICA FOCUS – THE SPACE ECONOMY Once ejected from the rocket, the box will [South African National Space Agency] just open up and the five satellites will unfold as great,” she says. with a motherboard and radio attached “I feel my biggest contribution would be to them. Their function will be to collect here.” temperature data. “The main purpose of that is to figure out Onwards and upwards burn-up temperature and rate upon re-entry South Africa has sent three satellites to space. into the atmosphere from that altitude,” says The first was a miniature satellite launched OVER 40% OF THE Bull. “No flight has ever taken place at that in the US in 1999, built by post-graduate altitude before so that is going to be the first.” students at Stellenbosch University in the SATELLITES LAUNCHED It will orbit for 14 days before burning up. Western Cape. The data will be transmitted via radio before The second South African satellite was IN AFRICA WERE that happens. launched into space by a Russian Soyuz LAUNCHED OVER THE “It is really awe-inspiring and also rocket at Baikonur in 2009. It was called the motivating because I did not let my Sumbandila satellite. LAST TWO YEARS.” background stop me. So what’s to say that “It is a Venda [South African] name for – ONIOSUN TEMIDAYO every other African child can’t make a path-finder,” says Nomfuneko Majaja, the valuable contribution and if every other Chief Director: Legal & Compliance, SEZs African child is given the opportunity, we and Space Affairs at the Department of Trade would progress so fast...,” she says, smiling. and Industry (DTI). Euroconsult, a global independent Bull always dreamed of taking the leap Majaja is the former member of the Ad consulting and analyst firm specializing in into the space industry but never knew what hoc Committee for the review of the Space satellite-enabled vertical markets, predicts career path would take her there. Affairs Act No. 84 of 1993. that about 7,000 small satellites will be She had wanted to study nursing like She has experience in national economic launched, at an average of 580 per year by many other girls her age in her community policy development and strategy processes 2022 and growing to an average of 820 per but in 2015, when a group of female and specifically in aerospace, outer space and year by 2027. engineers and astrophysicists came to teach electro-technical sectors. “You can put a satellite in your hand, students about STEM (Science, Technology, Majaja says the space industry is not that’s how small it is,” adds Majaja. Engineering and Mathematics), her dreams as big compared to other industries in Bull is also working on a project with started coming true, slowly but surely. South Africa, and is trying to change that XinaBox to create an even smaller satellite The following year, she joined Space Trek, by interacting with various stakeholders called the X Sat. a space science camp in Cape Town offered involved in the country’s space economy. “It could fit into an iPhone 7 Plus. It is by Morehead State University in Kentucky, But she says the industry is growing that tiny,” she says. United States (US). significantly. It will have different sensors with It was a STEM program aimed at In 2013, South Africa launched its third functions. empowering young girls. She then applied satellite, developed by a high school learner “We have an array of sensors for infra- to their space science and engineering in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. red sensing, ultraviolet light sensing, carbon degree program and was accepted on a part- It was South Africa’s first cube satellite emissions…” scholarship basis. known as TshepisoSat (Code name ZA- It will also have GPS sensors. Bull is currently raising funds for her stint CUBE1). South Africa is currently working on at Morehead State University and plans to “In conjunction with developing launching the next CubeSat in December start next year. small satellites, there’s now a big move to 2018 on a Russian Launcher. Once she is done with her studies, she developing CubeSats,” says Majaja. One of the ambitious projects many hopes to return home to make an impact in A cube satellite is a miniaturized satellite are looking forward to in the country is South Africa’s emerging space industry. made up of multiples of 10cm×10cm×10cm the Square Kilometer Array (SKA), an “My dream is to bring that expertise cubic units. Satellites are getting smaller, international effort to build the world’s back to South Africa and help make SANSA smaller, and still smaller. largest radio telescope, with a square DECEMBER 2018 - JANUARY 2019 FORBES AFRICA | 31 a space club in his university with over 200 members. He was also involved in the university’s center for space research. In 2017, he was part of the group that created Nigeria’s first nanosatellite in conjunction with the Japanese Birds-1 program, a collaborative effort between the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), and the National Space Research and Development Agency. It involved five countries, namely Bangladesh, Japan, Mongolia, Ghana and Nigeria. Temidayo worked on the grand station development. The project’s aim was to equip the future generation of students to create their own satellites. Post his studies, Temidayo joined the Space Generation Advisory Council, a global organization aiming to bring the views of young space professionals to the United Nations. There, he became the kilometer (one million square meters) of placed for a lot of research that the people in African regional coordinator driving the collecting area. the US can’t do. development of space and promoting STEM. According to their website, it will “The space industry is going to move and In 2017, they hosted an African region deploy thousands of radio telescopes, it is going to change and if we have enough space generation workshop, a gathering of in three unique configurations, and people who are passionate enough about it, young space professionals in Africa with 15 enable astronomers to monitor the sky then we might just be at the helm of the ship.” countries in attendance. in unprecedented detail thousands of Early 2018, the young entrepreneur times faster than any system currently in Using space technology to resolve founded a company called Space in Africa, existence. Africa’s problems a platform that covers the business, “The South African MeerKAT radio Thousands of kilometers away from South technology, discoveries, events and political telescope is a precursor to the Square Africa, 24-year-old Oniosun Temidayo has news around the African space and satellite Kilometre Array telescope and will made it his life’s mission to make Africa the industry. be integrated into the mid-frequency next frontier of the space industry. His goal was to put out African-related component of SKA Phase 1,” they state on Temidayo grew up in a family of five information about the industry that he found their website. children in Oyo State in the southwest of lacking. More than 500 international Nigeria, but always aspired to go to space. “In Africa, we believe it’s actually time astronomers and 58 from Africa have There were no opportunities to study to get involved in the space industry. But we submitted proposals to work with aerospace engineering or astronomy so he realized this is not going to happen if there MeerKAT once it’s completed. studied meteorology instead, but space is is no adequate information on the industry,” “The space industry in Africa is really his first love, and he has been involved in he says. going to change completely, because of the industry for the last five to six years. He was the only African listed under things like the Square Kilometre Array and “The good thing about investing in the the 24 Under 24 Leaders and Innovators MeerKAT and the fact that there are a lot of space industry is that it helps you solve in STEAM and Space Awards given away space-tech companies in Africa and African major societal problems.