Kenya’s first operational observational satellite, Taifa-1, was finally launched into space on Saturday after three unsuccessful attempts. The launch occurred at the United States Vandenberg Base in California aboard a Falcon-9 rocket owned by Elon Musk’s Space X company.
Taifa-1’s launch was initially meant to take place on Tuesday, April 11, before being rescheduled to Friday, April 14, due to unbalanced weather conditions. The weather conditions did not improve by Friday, so the launch was postponed 28 seconds before lift-off and pushed to Saturday, April 15, at 9:44 am.
The satellite was built by a team of nine Kenya Space Agency (KSA) engineers, costing Ksh.50 million. (about $380,000). The team collaborated with Endurosat AD, a Bulgarian aerospace manufacturer that supplied components of the satellite’s body.
The observation satellite is “fully designed and developed” by Kenyan engineers and will be used to provide data on agriculture and food security, among other areas, a statement from the defence ministry and the Kenya Space Agency said.
“The mission is an important milestone,” the statement said, adding that it would contribute significantly to the country’s “budding space economy”.
An East African economic powerhouse, Kenya is suffering its worst drought in decades after five failed rain seasons.
The satellite launch adds to a push by African nations for scientific innovation and the development of space programmes.
Read also: Starlink to launch in Kenya, what it means for competitors
The Taifa 1 Mission
Taifa-1 Sat is Kenya’s first operational earth observation satellite. It is equipped with an optical camera that takes pictures simultaneously in multispectral and panchromatic modes enabling it to operate within and beyond the visible light spectrum.
The satellite is the first of what is intended to be a constellation of small earth observation satellites, with subsequent systems expected to be of higher capability. observation satellites, with subsequent systems expected to be of higher capability.
Taifa 1 Satellite
The Taifa-1 Mission has been implemented in four main architectural parts: the mission subject, space segment, ground segment, launch segment and mission operations component.
The mission subject is the area or object of interest targeted in the mission objectives. This is the Kenyan territory and the payload calibration sites for Taifa-1.
The space segment is the complete satellite assembly launched into the mission orbit comprising the payload and the satellite bus. For Taifa-1, the payload is an optical camera capable of imaging in five multispectral bands with a ground sampling distance (GSD) of 32 metres and a panchromatic band with a GSD of 16 metres.
The two types of images work together to provide higher quality images known as pan-sharpened images, which combine the two.
The satellite bus comprises the rest of the subsystems to get the payload to function optimally to achieve the mission objectives. These include electrical power, communication, structures and mechanisms, onboard computing, attitude determination and control and thermal control subsystems.
The payload and the satellite bus both have onboard mass storage systems that temporarily store images on board before the satellite can access the ground station and download them.
The ground segment comprises a UHF/S/X Band ground station and the associated radio, control and computing equipment needed to track and communicate wirelessly with the Taifa-1 space segment. It is the primary access point mission operators will have to the satellite.
The launch segment comprises the launch vehicle, launch pad and its mission control centre that puts the Taifa-1 space segment into its mission orbit. In this case, it is a Falcon 9 rocket system by SpaceX.
The mission operations component implements the concept of operations for the mission and is responsible for how that satellite data will flow from the mission from the Launch and Early Orbit Phase (LEOP) to the end of its useful life.
It also caters to how the images are processed and utilised by decision-makers in various fields who seek to address the country’s multiple challenges according to set policies and regulations. It also caters to how troubleshooting routines are carried out for the space segment.
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