South Africa’s R26-million Sumbandila satellite (SumbandilaSat) has been successfully launched from the renowned Baikonur Cosmodrome by Russian space agency Roscosmos, on a Soyuz-2 rocket. The launch was at 17:55 South African time on Thursday.

The rocket was placed on the launch pad early in the week, but the launch has been subject to two holds, each of 24 hours duration. The first hold was caused by a combination of bad weather and a telemetry glitch.

The second hold was the result of problems in the fuelling process, apparently caused by a leak in a pipeline or hose that needed repair or replacing. Fuelling has to be completed just 20 minutes before lift off, and the launch was aborted just 13 minutes before the scheduled launch time. The Soyuz-2 is powered by a mixture of highly refined kerosene (the fuel) and liquid oxygen as the oxidiser. Liquid oxygen has to be kept at a temperature of – 183˚ C or below. As it evaporates very easily, it cannot be stored for long.

The South African spacecraft is an 81-kg Earth observation microsatellite. It has been designed and built by specialist microsatellite company SunSpace & Information Systems (SunSpace), which is based in Stellenbosch in the Western Cape. SumbandilaSat – sumbandila means “lead the way” in the Venda language – is based around a new satellite platform developed by SunSpace. The microsatellite’s main payload is a 6,25-m multispectral imager – that is, the imager has a resolution of 6,25 m x 6,25 m. This imager was also designed, developed, and made by SunSpace.

SunSpace was spun-off by the University of Stellenbosch to exploit the expertise developed in the design, assembly, and operation of the university’s own private-initiative satellite, SunSat, which, in 1999, became the first South African satellite to reach orbit. SunSat had a mass of 64 kg and carried a fairly small multispectral imager, operating in three bands (red, blue, and green) with a resolution of 15 m (that is, one pixel equating to 15 m x 15 m on the ground) at an altitude of 600 km – the first of its kind on a small satellite in any country.

SumbandilaSat is one of six microsatellites that were launched on the Soyuz-2 rocket, along with the primary payload of a Russian Meteor M weather satellite. The Meteor M has a mass of 2 700 kg and is the first of a new generation of Russian meteorological satellites, equipped with new instruments. It is believed that these new systems required extra testing and evaluation, so repeatedly delaying a launch that had originally been planned for March. First it was delayed to May, and then to August, and finally to September.

These delays came on top of a previous major delay. Originally, the plan had been that the South African microsatellite would be launched in 2007 by the Russian Ministry of Defence on a Shtil rocket, from a Russian Navy missile submarine. That deal fell through. Roscosmos then offered a land-based launch instead, at no extra cost.

The Russian space agency hopes that the launch of SumbandilaSat will provide a basis to develop further cooperation with this country and help South Africa develop its space industry and space programme. The agency has stated that it is willing to offer a wide range of technologies and services to the South African space programme and for the development of the local space industry.

Roscosmos points out that it is the world’s leading supplier of satellite launch services. Last year, it executed 27 launches, all of which were successful, which put 43 satellites of various sizes into orbit. The US undertook 15 launches, of which one failed, orbiting 18 satellites, while China carried out 11 launches and orbited 15 satellites, the European Space Agency (ESA) had six launches and put 11 satellites into orbit.

In 2007, Russia had 26 launches and orbited 48 satellites, the US had 19 launches and orbited 29 satellites, China 10 launches with 11 satellites reaching orbit, and the ESA executed 6 launches and put 12 satellites into orbit.

The Baikonur Cosmodrome is the birth place of the Space Age. The first satellite in space, the first man in space, the first woman in space – all took off from Baikonur. The Cosmodrome is located in Kazakhstan but is held and operated by Russia under a lease agreement that runs until 2050.