The Department of Science and Tech- nology (DST) recently revealed that it was buying the intellectual property (IP) and tangible assets of insolvent South African microsatellite company Sun Space & Information Systems (SunSpace) for R55-million. The majority of the company’s creditors accepted the DST’s offer, which had been recommended in the business rescue plan drawn up by a practitioner who had been appointed by the SunSpace board. Their decision has been welcomed by Science and Technology Minister Derek Hanekom. The amount offered by the DST was based on an independent evaluation of the value of the company’s IP and tangible assets.

Although the purchase is being made by the DST and Cabinet previously stated that SunSpace would be absorbed by the South African National Space Agency (Sansa), the country’s national satellite manufacturing capability will not be housed with DST and Sansa. Rather, under an agreement between Sansa and missile and unmanned air vehicle company Denel Dynamics, SunSpace’s assets will be used to form a new business unit within the defence company. Denel Dynamics is part of the State-owned Denel defence industrial group, and in its press release regarding this deal, the group stressed that “Denel is not buying a new business, but will simply be executing contracts from Sansa”.

SunSpace employees were offered jobs in the new Denel Dynamics unit and more than 80% have accepted. They “all happen to be high-end engineers and scientists”, noted Denel Group CEO Riaz Saloojee. It is expected that the new unit will, like SunSpace, be based in Stellenbosch, in the Western Cape, and not be transferred to the company’s base in Centurion, south of Pretoria, in Gauteng.

“In this way, South Africa will retain the critical home-grown capacity developed by SunSpace,” said the DST in a press release. “The Department anticipates that the absorption process will be completed by the end of this year. The core capability of the satellite manufacturing unit will be used to develop and broaden a competitive satellite manu- facturing industry in South Africa. The capability will be developed to serve the satellite development needs of the country and the rest of Africa, as well as other regions of the world.”

“Denel was involved in the previous RSA space programmes until 1996 and has a latent space capability, including key staff that still work for Denel on various current programmes, as well as the Houwteq satellite test facility near Grabouw,” highlighted Saloojee. “This opportunity will allow Denel to optimise the synergy between the SunSpace capabilities and the latent capability in Denel for the broader national technological benefit.”

Denel Dynamics will act as the main contractor for satellites to Sansa, but the future development of these spacecraft will be a national collaborative effort, also involving the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, the DST, the country’s universities and local high-technology industries. The intent is to strengthen and develop the country’s satellite and related systems capabilities by means of the Denel Dynamics engineering skills development programme.

SunSpace designed and manufactured South Africa’s 81 kg earth observation micro- satellite, Sumbandila, which was operated by Sansa. Although the satellite operated for less than two years, instead of the two to three years that Sansa had hoped for, nevertheless, the agency considers Sumbandila to have been a success, as it provided some 1 000 usable images. SunSpace was a company 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.

“As Denel, we are pleased to be in the process of implementing a key strategic objective of government, which is to increase collaboration within the State, while we will also be leveraging Denel’s capabilities to contribute towards the broader knowledge-based economy and advanced manufacturing in our country,” affirmed Saloojee.