GhanaSat-1: Ghana Joins Other African Nations in Space

West African nation, Ghana has joined the list of African countries to have launched a satellite into space.  Cubesat was built by a Ghanaian engineering team at the All Nations University and was launched as the country’s first satellite in June 2017.  According to Techcrunch, the satellite was delivered to NASA’s International Space Station in June on a SpaceX rocket that took off from pad 39a at Kennedy Space Center.

GhanaSat-1 was built by a team of engineers made up of Benjamin Bonsu, Ernest Teye Matey and Joseph Quansah.

Richard Damoah, a Ghanaian professor and assistant research scientist at NASA confirms that deployed into orbit from the Center in July, and is now operational. It will send a signal to a ground station at All Nations University’s Space Systems and Technology Laboratory.

“This particular satellite has two missions. It has cameras on board for detailed monitoring of the coastlines of Ghana. Then there’s an educational piece―we want to use it to integrate satellite technology into high school curriculum,” Damoah was quoted to have said.

He also claimed that the project did not receive official Ghanaian government support although the country’s president, Nana Akufo-Addo applauded the launch and congratulated the team directly. He noted that there are plans to develop GhanaSat-2 which would be monitoring acts like deforestation, illegal mining and others in the country if this project could help elicit the country’s government support.

Congratulations to the team from All Nations Uni., Koforidua, for the successful launch of Ghana's 1st satellite, GhanaSat-1, into orbit.

— Nana Akufo-Addo (@NAkufoAddo) July 7, 2017

Ghana has now joined the league of African nations to have explored the space. Recall that Nigeria launched her first CubeSat launched on the same SpaceX mission. Other countries include South Africa, Libya, Kenya and Ethiopia. Angola announced its intention to launch a satellite over the coming year.