South Africa's Space Program

Gottschalk, Keith

doi:10.1080/14777622.2010.496528

Cited by 12 publications

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“…This does not simply mean developed and developing country partnerships, but also partnerships between developing countries. For example South Africa, Algeria and Nigeria have greater capacity than most of the rest of sub-Saharan Africa with regards to EO expertise (Jason et al 2010, Gottschalk 2010, and could take the lead in partnering with other countries in the region to develop regional EO capacity. Brazil has also taken on a leading role in South-South partnerships in a number of areas including EO research (Peter 2009).…”

Section: What Is Capacity Development?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Academic and research capacity development in Earth observation for environmental management

Cassells

Woodhouse

Tembo

2011

Environ. Res. Lett.

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Sustainable environmental management is one of the key development goals of the 21st century. The importance of Earth observation (EO) for addressing current environmental problems is well recognized. Most developing countries are highly susceptible to environmental degradation; however, the capacity to monitor these changes is predominantly located in the developed world. Decades of aid and effort have been invested in capacity development (CD) with the goal of ensuring sustainable development. Academics, given their level of freedom and their wider interest in teaching and knowledge transfer, are ideally placed to act as catalyst for capacity building. In this letter, we make a novel investigation into the extent to which the EO academic research community is engaged in capacity development. Using the Web of Knowledge publication database (http://wok.mimas.ac.uk), we examined the geographical distribution of published EO related research (a) by country as object of research and (b) by authors' country of affiliation. Our results show that, while a significant proportion of EO research (44%) has developing countries as their object of research, less than 3% of publications have authors working in, or affiliated to, a developing country (excluding China, India and Brazil, which not only are countries in transition, but also have well established EO capacity). These patterns appear consistent over the past 20 years. Despite the wide awareness of the importance of CD, we show that significant progress on this front is required. We therefore propose a number of recommendations and best practices to ease collaboration and open access.

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Section: What Is Capacity Development?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Academic and research capacity development in Earth observation for environmental management

Cassells

Woodhouse

Tembo

2011

Environ. Res. Lett.

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“…Although this initiative is seen as a positive development for Africa's contribution towards space, Peter Martinez is cited byAugustine 8 as cautioning that this idea might be premature, arguing that other African countries that have not yet participated in space endeavours need first to develop their own capabilities so that they can participate fully in the development of the ASA. However, Gottschalk4 differs, stating that the development of the ASA could provide the vehicle for the continent to negotiate better offers for satellite construction, space launches, technology transfer and infrastructure, than could individual countries alone. Attesting to this, Abiodun7 stated that space exploration is a total global engagement and therefore continents ought to have one voice towards space utilisation.…”

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confidence: 99%

The growth of space science in African countries for Earth observation in the 21st century

Ngcofe

Gottschalk

2013

S. Afr. J. Sci.

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The vulnerability of Africa to the impact of climate change, which results in natural disasters and environmental degradation, accelerates hardship and poverty for millions of Africans. However, Africa still lacks the necessary scientific and technical capacity to assess fully and to monitor the possible future impacts of climate change. One of the instruments available to address the challenges of environmental monitoring (including climate change) and to provide early warnings of natural and human-made disasters for Africa's development is Earth observation satellites. Earth observation satellites record Earth's information from space and provide accurate, continuous, simultaneous measurements of our planet. The results of the application of Earth observation satellites have longterm social benefits which include the early detection of hurricanes and typhoons that can lead to prompt warnings for areas predicted to be affected, thus providing crucial time to implement safety measures to mitigate the effects of such disasters. Several authors concur with this position, stating that the global view from satellite observation is unmatched in its ability to capture the dynamics and variability of Earth processes. The capability to predict weather (among other things) has led Earth observation satellites to become essential to everyday applications that improve human safety and quality of life. However, despite the many benefits of the use of Earth observation satellites, it still remains a major challenge for Africa to explore the full potential of Earth observation satellites in addressing continental needs (Figure 1). 1 This commentary assesses the status of Africa in regard to Earth observation satellites. Nations which have had successful, independently launched satellites on indigenously developed launch vehicles Nations which have had unsuccessful, independently launched satellites on indigenously developed launch vehicles or have procured external launches for their satellites Nations which have used external resources for developing and launching their satellites Nations which have claimed to have successful, independently launched satellites on indigenously developed launch vehicles, but the claims have not been verified Source: Sharpe 1 Figure 1: The status of African space activities with regard to other countries Earth observation and space development in Africa African countries are currently participating in a variety of notable space technology initiatives. We have chosen, however, to focus on Africa's role in Earth observation. Africa is regarded as both a collector and a user of data for and from the Earth observation satellites. The notable leading African countries involved in Earth observation are South Africa, Egypt, Algeria and Nigeria. South Africa's history with space science is well documented. 2-6 The country's involvement in space science can be traced back to the 1950s to amateur rocket launch activities. Major activities in South Africa's participation in space science really expanded af...

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Introduction: On Space Policy, Development and Security in Nigeria and South Africa

Oyewole

2024

Southern Space Studies

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South Africa's Space Program

Cited by 12 publications

References 0 publications

Academic and research capacity development in Earth observation for environmental management

Academic and research capacity development in Earth observation for environmental management

The growth of space science in African countries for Earth observation in the 21st century

Introduction: On Space Policy, Development and Security in Nigeria and South Africa

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