Where are we in the Space Race?
Yes! We do have a national space agency, SANSA (South African National Space Agency).
Although, due to money and development we are far behind other space agencies such as NASA or Space X - our closest success for South Africa. So it would seem highly unlikely that South Africa will develop rockets anytime soon.
An annual report from 2018 states that SANSA's focus is to "position South Africa as an international hub with space solutions for the world of the future" - Joy-Marie Lawrence. The focus seems to be creating international partners and becoming a center for support in space - space observation most likely. But this does not mean we will never send human to space. So what is required of us?
Firstly would be the knowledge and ability to create rockets. We have never created a rocket made for human or cargo space flight. Secondly would be funding, but as we know with South Africa's current state it's a no-go. As a space agency in South Africa, it seems we cannot rely on government funding and instead have to focus on partnering with international companies which is what has been implemented. And thirdly would be the drive. Currently, there is no need to go to space, there are already other space agencies that have been to the moon and are going to mars. We cannot compete
So the only way forward is development.
From the annual report of 2017, we have made a few key successes this year: Completion of ZACube-2 by CPUT and provide student support, which was achieved in one of South Africas roughest years, but what is interesting to note is the goals next year.
"The next financial year will see SANSA continue to strive to position South Africa among the global space players and influence the impact of space science, technology and innovation on lives of citizens across the continent" - Dr. Valanathan Munsami
This excites me for the term 'global space player' to be used, but was not what I am hoping for. The objective is not space domination. So what are the objectives of SANSA this year?
Promote the peaceful use of space
Support the creation of an environment conducive to industrial development in space technology
Foster research in space science, communications, navigation, and space physics
Advance scientific, engineering & technological competencies and capabilities through human capital development outreach programmes and infrastructure development
Foster international cooperation in space-related activities
In addition to those objectives, current activities of SANSA include Earth Observation, Research in Space Science (studying the sun, weather, auroras, etc) and Space Engineering (developing satellites). All of these are important, but no space travel. We seem to be going in the right direction of development of our Space Agency, but without a need for South Africa to have man flights in space, I fear we may never enter the era of Space-Exploration. There is too much competition and we lack the resources to do so. After all, we only launched our first satellite into space in 1999 (Sunsat) and SANSA was only established in 2010 so our journey in space development is very new.
So where do we go from here? All I can say is keep developing South Africa. We need to spread awareness of SANSA and create interest in Space in our future generation. Unless we have a multi-million Elon Musk in South Africa our only chance is to lift South Africa's power (not looking at you Eskom)
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