17/11/08

Africa’s first communications satellite fails

The satellite was expected to boost telecommunications in Nigeria and the rest of Africa Copyright: Flickr/DavidDennisPhotos.com

By: Adole Hassan

We encourage you to republish this article online and in print, it’s free under our creative commons attribution license, but please follow some simple guidelines:

You have to credit our authors.
You have to credit SciDev.Net — where possible include our logo with a link back to the original article.
You can simply run the first few lines of the article and then add: “Read the full article on SciDev.Net” containing a link back to the original article.
If you want to also take images published in this story you will need to confirm with the original source if you're licensed to use them.
The easiest way to get the article on your site is to embed the code below.

For more information view our media page and republishing guidelines.

The full article is available here as HTML.

Press Ctrl-C to copy

<div class="article-wrap">
<div id="article-introduction">
<h1>Africa’s first communications satellite fails</h1>
<h4>By: Adole Hassan</h4>
</div>
<br />
<br />

<div id="article-body">
<p>[ABUJA] Africa’s first communications satellite has suffered an energy failure just 18 months after its launch.</p>
<p>The solar panels have malfunctioned on the Chinese-manufactured satellite according to Alhassan Zaku, Nigeria’s minister of state for science and technology.</p>
<p>The NIGCOMSAT-1 satellite was launched from China in 2007 (see <a href="http://www.scidev.net/en/news/satellite-launches-boost-african-communications.html">Satellite launches boost African communications</a>) amidst optimism that it would aid development by linking up rural communities and progressing telemedicine and long-distance learning. There were also ambitious commercial goals. But these are now dashed, say commentators.</p>
<p>Ahmed Rufai, managing director of Nigeria Communication, which runs the satellite management company, said the satellite was powered down on Sunday night (9 November) after it was discovered that the batteries were failing faster than expected.</p>
<p>But Nigeria’s <em>ThisDay</em> newspaper (12 November) claims that the satellite has already fallen out of its orbit and been destroyed in order to prevent it from harming others. The paper quotes unnamed sources who allege that the Chinese manufacturers of the satellite used poor-quality materials.</p>
<p>Akin Soyinka, chair of non-governmental organisation Nigeria Internet Watch, told SciDev.Net that the loss of the satellite would damage the country’s efforts to bridge the digital divide (See <a href="http://www.scidev.net/en/news/african-action-plan-pushes-satellites-for-developm.html">African action plan pushes satellites for development</a>).</p>
<p>"The federal government invested a lot of resources in building the satellite — to the detriment of education and health in the last four years — with the hope of bridging the digital divide and accelerating the country’s development," Soyinka said. "But now all that is gone down the drain."</p>
<p>The 40 billion Nigerian Naira (US$240 million) satellite was entirely government-owned but was "fully insured," said Rufai.</p>
<p>A geostationary satellite, it was supposed to work for 15 years, and is officially monitored by a ground control station in Abuja, Nigeria, with backup stations in China, Italy, northern Nigeria and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) satellite applications centre in Hartebeesthoek, South Africa.</p>
<p>Zaku told SciDev.Net that Internet service providers in Nigeria and telecommunications companies who were using the satellite would be moved to other satellites if engineers confirm that it is unfixable.</p>

</div>
<div class="quick-links-wrapper">
<h3>You might also like</h3>
[related-articles]
</div>
<p>This article was originally published on <a href="https://www.scidev.net" target="_blank">SciDev.Net</a>. Read the <a href="https://www.scidev.net/global/news/africa-s-first-communications-satellite-fails/" target="_blank">original article</a>.</p>
<script type="text/javascript">
(function(e,t,n,r,i,s,o){e["GoogleAnalyticsObject"]=i;e[i]=e[i]||function(){(e[i].q=e[i].q||[]).push(arguments)},e[i].l=1*new Date;s=t.createElement(n),o=t.getElementsByTagName(n)[0];s.async=1;s.src=r;o.parentNode.insertBefore(s,o)})(window,document,"script","//www.google-analytics.com/ga.js","ga");var _gaq=_gaq||[];var _gaq=_gaq||[];_gaq.push(["_setAccount","UA-3223906-8"],["_trackEvent","article interaction","republished","https://www.scidev.net/global/news/africa-s-first-communications-satellite-fails/",null,true])
</script>
</div>

[ABUJA] Africa’s first communications satellite has suffered an energy failure just 18 months after its launch.

The solar panels have malfunctioned on the Chinese-manufactured satellite according to Alhassan Zaku, Nigeria’s minister of state for science and technology.

The NIGCOMSAT-1 satellite was launched from China in 2007 (see Satellite launches boost African communications) amidst optimism that it would aid development by linking up rural communities and progressing telemedicine and long-distance learning. There were also ambitious commercial goals. But these are now dashed, say commentators.

Ahmed Rufai, managing director of Nigeria Communication, which runs the satellite management company, said the satellite was powered down on Sunday night (9 November) after it was discovered that the batteries were failing faster than expected.

But Nigeria’s ThisDay newspaper (12 November) claims that the satellite has already fallen out of its orbit and been destroyed in order to prevent it from harming others. The paper quotes unnamed sources who allege that the Chinese manufacturers of the satellite used poor-quality materials.

Akin Soyinka, chair of non-governmental organisation Nigeria Internet Watch, told SciDev.Net that the loss of the satellite would damage the country’s efforts to bridge the digital divide (See African action plan pushes satellites for development).

"The federal government invested a lot of resources in building the satellite — to the detriment of education and health in the last four years — with the hope of bridging the digital divide and accelerating the country’s development," Soyinka said. "But now all that is gone down the drain."

The 40 billion Nigerian Naira (US$240 million) satellite was entirely government-owned but was "fully insured," said Rufai.

A geostationary satellite, it was supposed to work for 15 years, and is officially monitored by a ground control station in Abuja, Nigeria, with backup stations in China, Italy, northern Nigeria and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) satellite applications centre in Hartebeesthoek, South Africa.

Zaku told SciDev.Net that Internet service providers in Nigeria and telecommunications companies who were using the satellite would be moved to other satellites if engineers confirm that it is unfixable.