Tunisia to launch its first satellite by July despite COVID-19 slowdown

Despite the disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Tunisia is determined to move forward with the launch of its first satellite.

The Tunisian company in charge of the project, TELNET Holding, plans to launch the “Challenge One” nanosatellite next July from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, assisted by Russian Soyuz spacecraft. Confirmation was given on May 12 by authorities.

The project team was able to travel to Russia in mid-March to visit the laboratories of TELNET’s subsidiary, Rus TELNET, at the Skolkovo Innovation Center, to complete the final tests in preparation for the satellite flight model that will be delivered and embarked onboard the Russian space shuttle Soyuz 2.

The company reported that the level of activity was maintained within budget despite the constraints due to the Coronavirus crisis, thanks to the switch to teleworking in total coherence with the type of its activities and thanks to the use of videoconferencing technology in daily meetings with clients abroad.