Pretoria - The recently launched South African imaging satellite called EOS SAT-1 has been hailed as the world’s first agriculture-focused satellite constellation.
The satellite will provide the agriculture and forestry industry with high-quality data to support efficient and sustainable practices.
Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Dr Blade Nzimande, said the satellite would further cement South Africa’s position as an African leader in satellite development.
The satellite will also help the country capture a valuable share of a niche market in the fast-growing global satellite value chain, he said.
Built locally by South African company Dragonfly Aerospace, the satellite was launched on January 3 by US aerospace company SpaceX at Cape Canaveral, Florida, as part of the Transporter-6 mission.
Nzimande said: “This will further cement South Africa’s position as an African leader in small-to-medium satellite development, and help the country to capture a valuable share of a niche market in the fast-growing global satellite value chain.”
According to the department, the launch of the 170kg microsatellite follows last year’s successful launch of three locally produced nanosatellites by the Department of Science and Innovation and its partners.
The Maritime Domain Awareness Satellite constellation (MDASat-1) was launched on SpaceX’s Transporter-3 mission and marked the first launch of a satellite constellation developed entirely on the African continent.
The EOS SAT-1 satellite is the first of a seven-satellite constellation in low-Earth orbit for customer EOS Data Analytics. The remaining six satellites of the constellation will be deployed over the next three years.
Images from Dragonfly’s EOS SAT-1 will deliver valuable information for applications such as harvest monitoring, seasonal planning and assessments that analyse information such as soil moisture, yield prediction and biomass levels.
Pretoria News