South Africa’s R26-million Sumbandila microsatellite is due to arrive at Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome on Wednesday, June 17.

The microsatellite is already safely in Russia, but has still to be transported to the world-renowned Cosmodrome, birthplace of the space age, which is actually located in Kazakhstan (the launch complex is leased and operated by Russia).

The rocket that will carry SumbandilaSat into orbit, as the second and smaller of two payloads, is already at Baikonur. The launch is still pencilled in for August 20.

However, the primary payload, a Russian Meteor M meteorological satellite, is not yet at Baikonur. There are conflicting reports about the status of the Meteor M. On the one hand, there are concerns that it will not be ready in time, forcing another delay of the launch. On the other hand, it is stated that it is due to arrive at Baikonur on June 27, which would allow a launch by August 20.

SumbandilaSat has been designed and built by specialist South African microsatellite company SunSpace and Information Systems (SunSpace), which is based in Stellenbosch in the Western Cape.

It is an 81 kg Earth observation microsatellite; sumbandila means “lead the way” in the Venda language. It 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.

It had been hoped that SumbandilaSat would have been launched on March 25 this year, but this had to be postponed to early May, because of the rescheduling of the Soyuz TMA-14 manned mission. But the Meteor M was not ready, which required a further delay.