Kenya launched its first operational earth observation satellite onboard a SpaceX rocket from the United States on Saturday, a live feed from Elon Musk’s rocket company showed. The satellite, developed by Kenyan engineers, will collect agricultural and environmental data on floods, drought and wildfires that authorities plan to use for disaster management and to combat food insecurity.
The Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Taifa-1 satellite took off at about 0648 GMT without incident from the Vandenberg Base in California after three postponements due to bad weather. “We have the challenges that have been brought about by climate change, which the satellite, by virtue of being able to capture images (will be able to help monitor)”, Capt. Alloyce Were, an aeronautical engineer and deputy director of Navigation and Positioning at the government-run Kenya Space Agency, said on Friday before the satellite’s launch.
The space agency said that Kenyan company SayariLabs built the satellite with the help of Bulgarian aerospace company Endurosat at the cost of 50 million Kenyan shillings ($372,000) over two years. The agency says it will operate for five years and then decay over 20 years, entering the atmosphere and burning out.
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