South Africa Set to Launch Space Agency http://redorbit.com/news/space/593489/south_africa_set_to_launch_space_agenc y/index.html
JOHANNESBURG (Xinhua) -- The South African government has approved the establishment of the South African Space Agency, Government Communications said in a statement received here on Friday. The agency would be an institutional vehicle for the coordination and implementation of South Africa's national space science and technology programs. "The agency will conduct long-term planning and implementation of space-related activities in South Africa for the benefit of all citizens," the statement said. It would coordinate its activities closely with the South African Council for Space Affairs and stakeholders, and would report to the Minister of Science and Technology. South Africa's remarkable progress over the past decade in the fields of space science and astronomy is set to generate billions of rands in foreign investment. Science and Technology Minister Mosibudi Mangena said in May that the country was poised to take the lead in African space and astronomy programs through the establishment of a South African Space Agency. "We are establishing (this) to unite the work of several institutions and harness these capacities to leverage billions of rands through which we hope to boost the economy and create more jobs. According to the an earlier report, South Africa's second satellite would be launched this year. The project will expand South African satellite-engineering capabilities in a bid to develop a cluster of satellites. The cluster would be know as the African Resource Management Constellation. The vision is to develop and build in Africa satellites that can assist in disaster prediction and mitigation, projection of crop yields, and a host of other applications. Other industrial applications are likely to spin off from this process. South Africa had also signed bilateral agreements with the Russian Space Agency, which has expressed an interest in launching satellites from South Africa. It had also signed partnership and cooperation agreements with the European Space Agency and Nasa (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) in the United States. Gregory S. Williams [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply with a "Thank you" if you liked this post. _____________________________ MEDIANEWS mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
