Two major South African space conferences were opened on Wednesday, at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research’s International Convention Centre in Pretoria. They are the fourth South African Group on Earth Observations (SA-GEO) symposium and the third Space for National Development Conference.

The two events were being held in a combined format, and have attracted hundreds of delegates from across the country, the South African National Space Agency (Sansa) has reported. They have been combined in order to maximise their benefit to local stakeholders in space, from industry, academia and government. The combined conference will run until Friday. 

“It is important for Sansa to maintain and support such engagements and interventions that provide significant value to our partners and stakeholders for the benefit of growing the impact made by addressing national challenges through space knowledge and innovations,” affirmed Sansa interim CEO Andiswa Mlisa. Sansa was responsible for organising the Space for National Development element of the event.

The SA-GEO aspect of the combined conference was organised by the National Earth Observations and Space Secretariat (NEOSS) of the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI). NEOSS Strategic Programmes contracts manager Lulu Makapela observed that it was important for the organisation to work more closely with the space community. The event would result in a better understanding of what areas NEOSS needed to support, to grow the South African space industry and to meet the country’s wider social challenges. It would also showcase the value and benefits to be obtained from Space-based Earth observation information and other data.

The DSI expected that both events would evolve into sustainable partners, thereby bringing deep value across the entire space value-chain, by means of running a single annual conference. Space was important to South Africa and Africa, aiding decision-making, the management of resources and disaster management. It was also an opportunity, through the development of local space engineering expertise and the space industry.