Ethiopia launches new satellite as African space race accelerates

Ethiopia has launched its first satellite into space on Friday from a space station in China, Reuters reported.

Senior officials and citizens of the Horn of Africa nation watched a live broadcast of the satellite’s launch at the Entoto Observatory and Research Centre just north of the capital Addis Ababa.

The satellite was designed by Chinese and Ethiopian engineers and the Chinese government paid about $6 million of the more than $7 million manufacturing costs.

The 70-kilogram remote sensing satellite is to be used for agricultural, climate, mining and environmental observations, allowing the Horn of Africa country to collect data and improve its ability to plan for changing weather patterns for example.

The satellite will operate from space around 700 kilometers above the surface of earth.

Ethiopia is among the African countries that recently announced a program to develop their space program and are expected to launch a satellite in the coming years.

Other African countries which have bolstered their space efforts over the past years include Angola, Ghana, and Morocco.