Quest of Nigeria into Space for Sustainable Development

Abstract

Subsequent to the launch of the first Nigerian satellite into space in September 2003, the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA), Abuja, Nigeria, has demonstrated a peaceful use of outer space through the commercial, educational, humanitarian and governmental applications of its four satellites successfully launched so far. The nation has also maintained a sustainable national development since achieving this feat by joining other nations in space operations. The satellite operations are carried out indigenously by Nigerian Engineers and Scientist from the Mission Control Ground Station (MCGS), Abuja, Nigeria. Consequently, three remote sensing satellites; NigeriaSat-1, NigeriaSat-X and NigeriaSat-2 and one communications satellite; NIGCOMSAT-1R, have answered numerous questions on the status of space operations and the peaceful use of outer space. With the successful completion of its mission lifetime, NigeriaSat-1 was de-orbited after about nine years of useful and peaceful satellite operations. During its mission lifetime, it responded to both local and international disasters while in the Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC) including sustainable development campaigns initiated jointly or individually for satellites in the constellation such as Hurricane Katrina and the development of a national resource inventory showing land-use/land cover mapping at 1:50,000 etc. In continuation of this recorded achievements, NigeriaSat-X and NigeriaSat-2 which are advanced Earth Observation (EO) micro-satellites equipped with enhanced imaging performance for improved capability and applications have equally witnessed improved satellite operations from the Abuja MCGS. Also, NIGCOMSAT-1R has been applied in tele-medicine and tele-conferencing, data transfer, internet services, e-library etc.In the course of our satellite operations, useful lessons have been learnt in the management and operations of more than one satellite from a single ground-station for the remote sensing satellites. Therefore, in this paper, we review and share our operational experiences, achievements and future direction on our quest into space for sustainable development through the use of our remote sensing and communications satellites.