Plan emerges for renewal of South Africa’s crucial space infrastructure

19th March 2021

By: Rebecca Campbell

Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

     

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Almost unnoticed by most people on Earth, space technology and infrastructure has become essential for, and ubiquitous in, everyday life. It has become a major facilitator for national economic development and, through satellite imagery, an essential source for a gigantic range of information about conditions and phenomena on Earth. It contributes massively to global telecommunications. It makes satellite navigation systems (popularly known as GPS) possible. And, of course, there is its role in pushing the boundaries of technology and hugely expanding human knowledge.

In a report published last July, international investment bank and financial services group Morgan Stanley estimated that the global space industry generated revenues of $350- billion. As for the future, the group forecasts that the global space industry could be worth $1-trillion, or even more, by 2040. For those countries able to develop and deploy (not necessarily launch) space technologies, it can also be a significant contributor to national economies as well as technological development. South Africa is one of those countries.

South Africa’s Space Infrastructure

To benefit from the huge and ever-growing opportunities presented by space, a country needs a national space infrastructure. South African National Space Agency (Sansa) CEO Dr Val Munsami defines space infrastructure as incorporating the “satellite segment, the ground segment, the data segment, the distribution channels to the customers and any assembly, integration and testing facilities involved in the manufacturing phase”.

“Space infrastructure encompasses all the elements required to utilise the benefits of space technology,” defines South African private-sector space group SCS Space CEO Dr Sias Mostert. “This would include spacecraft, ground control stations, ground receive stations, the processing and distribution and the human capital to operate and expand the system.”

South Africa has possessed and retained all the above elements of space infrastructure for periods of between 30 and 60 years, depending on the segment of space infrastructure under consideration. The country has had satellite and spacecraft racking capability since 1961, at Hartebeesthoek, in what is now Gauteng province, originally set up by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa), while South Africa set up satellite assembly and testing facilities (called Houwteq) near Grabouw, in the Western Cape province, in the late 1980s. In fact, South Africa’s space science (space weather) infrastructure has a history that can be traced back 80 years to the creation of a magnetic observatory at Hermanus, in the Western Cape, in 1941.

South Africa is not new to space. But the current state of its space infrastructure varies, with some of it ageing, and there are gaps that could be filled. Munsami notes, for example, that Sansa is still operating the oldest neutron monitor in the world, built in the 1950s and still using diode vacuum tubes. It is kept in working order by the skills of the agency’s engineers.

“South Africa has fantastic space science infrastructure in Hermanus for space weather operations; an assembly, integration and test facility at Houwteq at Grabouw that could do with some refurbishing; and a world-class ground station complex at Hartebeesthoek,” reports Mostert. “The areas where South Africa’s space infrastructure has room for growth are in the space segment with a number of space sensor systems – that is, satellites, augmented space-based navigation support and somehow a communication infrastructure that is optimised for underserved areas.”

“It is very important to upgrade and expand South Africa’s space infrastructure, as it is the most cost-effective way to provide ubiquitous access to a wide range of important services to the population,” he adds. “Think of the equivalent impact as weather forecasting and position information (GPS) on our lives.”

Investing in Space, Locally

Fortunately, the South African government has recognised the need and the opportunity. In September, it announced that Sansa was to receive R4.47-billion to develop a Space Infrastructure Hub (SIH) for the country. (Sansa proposed the SIH project to government at the July 2020 Sustainable Infrastructure Development Symposium.) The funding will be disbursed over three years.

“There are two aspects to this SIH investment; firstly, it allows us to modernise and bring to our end-users valuable space products and services within a very short period of time that with the current budgetary allocations would take a decade or two to accomplish,” explained Munsami. “Secondly, it provides possibilities to put in place modernised infrastructure across the space value chain that would replace or complement our existing ageing infrastructure. We are also approaching a number of investment instruments of government to address any urgent infrastructure requirements that Sansa may not have covered by this investment.”

But the SIH is not the only space infrastructure investment programme being pursued by Sansa. The agency has upgrade projects planned or proposed across all four of its divisions or programmes – Sansa Space Science, Sansa Earth Observation, Sansa Space Engineering and Sansa Space Operations.

For Sansa Space Science, a new space weather centre is to be built at a cost of about R100-million, with construction due to start next month. For Sansa Earth Observation, R15-million has been invested into a ‘data cube’ platform that will both archive ready-for-analysis satellite data from as far back as the 1970s, and transform the speed at which data required for policy decision- making can be accessed and analysed by government agencies.

Regarding Sansa Space Engineering, the space agency will create a Concurrent Design Facility, to revolutionise the design of future South African satellite missions. An amount of R25-million has been allocated to implement this initiative. Another R75-million has been designated for the upgrading of the Houwteq satellite assembly, integration and testing facility. However, the implementation of this project is in abeyance until the issue of the ownership of Houwteq has been settled between Sansa and financially embattled State-owned defence industrial group Denel.

Less advanced, in that the funding has not yet been secured, is the more than R100-million plan to create a second site for Sansa Space Operations, at Matjiesfontein, in the Western Cape. This would host ground segments in support of future space missions and could also possibly host Nasa’s fourth new Deep Space Network station (if Nasa grants approval).

The Role of the Private Sector

South Africa also has a small but vigorous private-sector space industry, ranging from the design and assembly of small satellites and nanosatellites and satellite payloads and sensors, to the delivery of space data services, including analysis. There are also a number of space science, engineering and technology activities spread across several South African universities.

Worldwide, the role of the private sector in space activities and operations has grown incredibly over the past two decades or so, actively stimulated by Nasa. SpaceX, the company founded and led by South African-born entrepreneur and engineer Elon Musk, is routinely flying cargo ships and now also crewed spaceships to the International Space Station. Arguably the most famous private- sector space company, SpaceX is by no means the only one. (Nasa’s motivation was and is to get out of the routine Earth-to-orbit-and-back ‘taxi’ business and to refocus on its core crewed and uncrewed space exploration mission.)

Other countries, other space agencies, are now following suit. What about South Africa? “South Africa has all the ingredients to create a modern, competitive SIH,” says Mostert. “However, in my view, it can only happen with a joint effort between the strengths of government and the strengths of industry, together.”

“The conceptualisation of Sansa was not intended for all space activities in the country to be implemented in-house, but rather to contract the local space industry, both upstream and downstream, to deliver on key imperatives required along the space value chain,” assured Munsami. “In this way the space infrastructure backbone provides a convenient platform to stimulate industry development and support the local space economy.”

“The local upstream space engineering private sector has been developing since the early 1990s into a very mature, globally competitive supply chain,” stresses Mostert. “The downstream private sector is also well developed. So, both should play a key role in developing the country’s space infrastructure. In fact, the technical requirements should be designed to be optimised for local supply.”

“We are mindful that not all of the technological requirements needed can be locally sourced, so we will be looking overseas for the procurement of these,” notes Munsami. “We would like to limit such sourcing to not more than 30% of our total cost and we will be introducing research and development initiatives in the near future that look at reducing this dependence and promoting localisation of these technologies.”

Strengthening existing, and creating new, ties with the international private space sector also opens opportunities for local space companies. “The international supply chain has key components to provide and has access to global markets that can benefit from the services established through the South African SIH investment,” adds Mostert.

Satellites and Rockets

Satellites form part of space infrastructure and six South African designed and built satellites have so far been launched into space. They are the small satellites SunSat and SumbandilaSat, both of which have ceased operating, and four nanosatallites (popularly called CubeSats). The ZACube-1 or TshepisoSat (a ‘1U’ nanosatellite, meaning it really was cube-shaped) and ZACube-2 (a ‘3U’ or oblong-shaped nanosatellite) were both developed by the Cape Peninsula University of Technology under the aegis of the French South African Institute of Technology. ZA-AeroSat was a ‘2U’ (shorter oblong) nanosatellite, which was developed by Stellenbosch University, while nSight1 was also a ‘2U’ nanosatellite, developed and assembled by Mostert’s company.

“South Africa has a very strong capability from nanosatellites to microsatellites in the 600 kg mass range,” he points out. “We should not only focus on nanosatellites.”

Sansa has a project to develop a small Earth observation satellite, currently designated EO-Sat 1. But lack of funding has caused severe delays, while satellite and sensor technologies worldwide (including in South Africa) have raced ahead. “There are ongoing discussions between the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) and Sansa to consider completion of EO-Sat 1,” reports Munsami. “This will complete the satellite missions being considered for the SIH. A mixture of small satellites, like EO-Sat 1, and nanosatellites will be optimal for South Africa’s and Africa’s geospatial needs, as it would provide different permutations and possibilities with regard to spatial, spectral and temporal resolutions.”

Finally, there is the question of space launch capability. This is fundamentally a political one. “Sansa is currently not focusing on launch capabilities, although we are aware of a study that has been commissioned by the [DSI] to explore this as a possibility,” notes Munsami. “A launch capability is important for sovereign independence for reaching space. If that is a priority for South Africa, it should be a priority for the SIH,” opines Mostert. “But there is also a strong international commercial base being developed around launchers and it may be that the launch site at Bredasdorp in the Western Cape becomes a commercial space port in its own right.”

Edited by Martin Zhuwakinyu
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

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