Nigeria has announced that it aims to launch a new earth observation satellite that will replace NigeriaSat-2 which has been in orbit since 2011. According to the director of the National Space Research and Development Agency, Francis Chizea the country aspires to strengthen its space capabilities.
Feasibility studies were conducted while taking into consideration global expectations and available technologies. Those studies will allow for a smooth development of the project.
“We have the idea of where we are supposed to build the facility that can allow us to build satellite components up to a 1000 kilograms […] We’ve been able to build some components for the spacecraft, so even for the satellite that we plan to launch, one or two of the components that will fly out will be built by us,” Chizea said.
It is noteworthy that NigeriaSat-2 was built in 2011 by the British company Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) to provide high-resolution images over a 20-km bandwidth.