Today November 6, 2022, Uganda launches her maiden satelite which was designed and built by Engineers; Edgar Mujuni, Derick Tebusweke and Bonny Omara. The trio were trained by the BIRDS-5 project of the Kyushu Institute of Technology, Japan.
Named PearlAfricaSat-1, the satelite comes at a very crucial time when Uganda’s Oil and Gas Industry needs a reliable mechanism for its resource planning as well as an impact assessment tool to successfully harness Uganda’s oil deposits.
In a statement released, Dr Monica Musenero Masanza, Minister for Science Technology and Innovation is optimistic that with the satelite’s launch, the above shortcomings will be history.
”The satelite will play a vital role in planning, resource management and environmental impact assessment in Uganda’s Oil and Gas Industry,” says Dr Musenero.
PearlAfricaSat-1 will be first, launched to the international space station, and will be subsequently deployed into low earth orbit in December 2022.
Dr Musenero says the satelite has a multisectoral camera payload that will provide research and observation high- resolution image data. The camera will support weather forecasting, land, water, mineral mapping, agriculture, monitoring, border security and disaster prevention.
” Prediction of weather, water quality, soil, fertility, landslides and droughts will be efficiently managed, adds Dr Musenero.
The Japanese Kyushu Institute of Technology, since 2015, has been carrying out the BIRDS-5 project, a constellation of CubeSats developed by Uganda, Zimbabwe and Japan with a goal of fostering long term sustainable space organization in participating nations.
PearlAfricaSat-1’s Earth Station is being set up at Mpooma, Mukono for efficient managent, command and control ‘by Ugandans’.
