Ethiopia Launches First-Ever Satellite

ENA, December 20/2019 Ethiopia has launched its first-ever Remote Sensing Satellite, ET-RSS-1 , to space this morning.

The 72 kg multi-spectral remote sensing satellite blasted off into space from China, with its ground station located at the Entoto space observatory facility in Ethiopia.

With the launching of the ETRSS-1, Ethiopia has now joined the other African countries in the space exploration to accelerate its development and growth plans.

The satellite will be stationed in 700 km away from the earth, and is expected to monitor the environment and weather patterns for better agricultural planning, drought early warning, mining activities and forestry management of the country.

Ethiopian engineers will fully take over the control and monitoring of the satellite from the multi-satellite tracking and data receiving ground station built at Entoto Observatory on the outskirts of Addis Ababa.

Besides saving huge money amounting to over 350 million birr annually, the earth observation satellite will enable the country to access data whenever needed and that supports the country in realizing its aspiration of growth and development.

The satellite was built in partnership with Ethiopian engineers, who were trained from the scratch, and has made way for the exchange and transfer of knowledge and technology between Ethiopia and China.

Ethiopia’s ongoing space exploration and catching up with technological advancement will have significant impact on the country’s overall development.