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An Ethiopian official revealed on Wednesday that Ethiopia has launched its second China-backed satellite.
Yishrun Alemayehu, deputy director general of the Ethiopian Space Science and Technology Institute (ESSTI), said the satellite that was launched on Tuesday has advanced high resolutions and images capable of capturing images in a clearer way.
The satellite abbreviated ET-Smart-RSS was launched from the China Wenchang spacecraft launch site.
“Preliminary design was carried out in Ethiopia, while detailed and technical work was carried out in collaboration with Chinese experts in China through zoom and other platforms,” Alemayehu told the state-run Ethiopian Herald newspaper.
“The 8.9 kilogram nano satellite is a great achievement for Ethiopia in several ways. The institute will continue to work to further strengthen the effort in technology transfer and human development,” he added.
The preliminary design of the satellite was carried out in Ethiopia, while the technical and detailed design was carried out by a joint team of Ethiopian-Chinese engineers.
In December 2019, Ethiopia launched its first abbreviated satellite as ETRSS-1 with the support of the Chinese government.
The 72 kg multispectral remote sensing satellite, which is stationed 700 km from the ground, is monitoring the country’s environment and weather patterns for better agricultural planning, early warning of droughts, mining activities and forest management.
In recent years, China has forged a partnership for the development of Ethiopia’s space science sector, thus working closely with the Ethiopian Ministry of Innovation and Technology (MoIT) to train Ethiopian space engineers and assist in launching microsatellites.
