Govt set to launch NigeriaSat-2 next year
From Julius Alabi (Akure) and John-Abba Ogbodo (Abuja)

NIGERIASAT-2, a high resolution satellite which will place the country on the fast track to realising a better environment in terms of timely efforts in disaster monitoring and management, will be launched in the last quarter of 2009.





The Minister of Science and Technology, Mrs. Grace Ekpiwhre, disclosed at the weekend during a national media conference on space science and technology held in Akure, the Ondo State capital, that the launch of the NigeriaSat-2 would boost agriculture and other sectors, leading to a better standard of living for all Nigerians.

According to her, the Nigeria Communication Satellite launched in 2007 and the proposed NigeriaSat-2 would improve communication systems for the benefit of Nigerians.

The conference, which is the second in a series with the theme, "Space technology and the media - Need for symbiotic relationship in the spirit of national development," was organised by the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA).

According to the minister: "The national media conference on space science and technology is indeed a right step in the right direction as it will not only provide forum for discourse and analysis of various activities of the National Space Research and Development Agency, but it would further pave way for basic understanding and knowledge of space science and technology.

"I wish to place on record that the Federal Government has taken a number of positive and bold actions to demonstrate its unequivocal and strong commitment to the development and application of space science and technology as a veritable tool for the national development," she said.

Ekpiwhre, however, stressed that NASRDA had, since inception on May 5, 1999 and in realisation of its mandate, embarked on a number of activities, which culminated in the launch of NigeriaSat-1 on September 27, 2003. She said it was on record that for the first time in Nigeria, the launch facilitated easy access to satellite data at affordable cost.

She noted that the agency had also identified and commissioned a number of satellite-based projects that were strategic to national development, specifically in the areas of boosting sustainable food production, resources inventory and management, ecological issues and sustainable health delivery.

The Director-General of NASRDA, Prof. Robert Ajayi Borofice, said the agency was consolidating its achievements over the few years of its existence, saying it was now engaging in the aggressive application of space science and technology spin-offs.

According to him, the agency having noted the benefits of healthcare delivery and real-time multiple education delivery, embarked on national telemedicine and tele-education projects to demonstrate the capacity and capability of its recently launched communication satellite, NIGCOMSAT-1.

He noted that the projects had put Nigeria on the world map of service providers in space technology against its former position of a service consumer only, noting that all the projects are in line with the Federal Government's reform agenda towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategies (NEEDS) programmes aimed at creating jobs for unemployed youths in the country.

According to Borofice, telemedicine involves the use of the use of medical information exchanged by medical experts to remote patients via satellite communication.

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives has summoned the Managing Director of NigComsat, Ahmed El-Rufai, to explain the state of affairs at the satellite launched two years ago, particularly against the backdrop of allegation of a missing satellite.

Chairman of the House Committee on Science and Technology, Abiodun Akinlade, disclosed at the weekend that it was time Nigerians were informed about the performance of the project estimated to have cost about N40 billion.

"The report of the missing satellite is disturbing; it is in fact a national disgrace; but we would not comment further until we are briefed by the managing director.

"If he had insured it, then the loss to the nation would have been mitigated, but if not, then it would be disastrous," he said.

Expressing the concern of the committee over the alleged missing satellite, Akinlade said that members might pay a visit to the site after the briefing by the managing director.

http://odili.net/news/source/2008/nov/17/11.html

They should at least wait for Nigersat 1 to fall peacefully on earth before launching the second one assuming Nigeria will not be banned from space or required to get a UN space visa before launching any other thing there.

This is really bad timing,  Who wants to hear about Nig Sat 2 when Nig Sat 1 is hurtling down to earth?

Bad timing or bad plan entirely?

I don't think our government have brains to think at all

well if you fail once, try again

shotster50:

This is really bad timing,  Who wants to hear about Nig Sat 2 when Nig Sat 1 is hurtling down to earth?

I think it is important to understand things clearly before jumping to criticism. NigeriaSat-1 is not falling, it was NigComSat-1 that failed. They are two different satellites. NigComSat is a communications satellite while NigeriaSat is an earth observation satellite.