National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA), has developed a human capacity in building satellite, that can stand for a longer period of time in the Orbit, according to Dr Halilu Shaba, director-general of the agency.
Shaba stated this at the Science, Technology and Innovation Expo in Abuja.
He said with the level of trainings received by the engineers in the agency, Nigeria can also build the satellite on its ground and launch it.
“It is important to know that with the development of capacity, Nigeria can now build satellite on its own ground, and we are also developing capacity to launch. We’ve reached 10,000 kilometres and we have the intention of reaching 36,000 kilometres; we are on time. We also developed a heritage, which brought about Nigeria Sat X, we believe we bought Sat one, Sat two, and our engineers were part of the building, but Nigeria Sat X was entirely developed by Nigerian engineers”, Shaba said.
Shaba noted that the idea of digital economy can only be successful with the use of satellite as it can be deployed in various aspect of socio-economic life from health to agriculture and environment amongst others.
In the aspect of using the satellite effectively in the fight against insurgency in Nigeria, Shaba said that NASRDA is helping in providing the military relevant data.
“We are using our satellite for security, but again anything that concern security is not something in the open, the military will be in a better position to tell you what they are doing with it. But you don’t deal with security issues as a public matter, so that is why you don’t see it on a daily basis”, Dr Shaba said.
Rear Admiral Nnamdi Anthony Muodilim, chief of Defence Space Administration in Nigeria represented by Major General Musa Dan Madami, commended the effort of NASRDA and assured that the army is doing its best and is on an achievable landmark.
Source: Commweek
