Ethiopian Informer
ADDIS ABABA: (EI) – The Ethiopian Ministry of Innovation and Technology has announced that the East African country’s first-ever satellite will be launched into space on December 17.
“The Multi-Spectral Remote Sensing Satellite ET-RSS1 will be launched in partnership with China,” Getahun Mekuria, Minister of Innovation and Technology, told reporters.
“The launching of ETRSS-1 will enable agricultural transformation and modernization by supporting the prediction of yield and natural disasters such as floods and drought,” the Ethiopian PM Office said on Sunday.
Getahun, who noted that the East African country’s maiden satellite to be launched at 6:21 am local time from China, also said that the satellite, will have its command and control center in Ethiopia at the Entoto space observatory facility located on the outskirt of Addis Ababa.
According to the Ethiopian Space Science and Technology Institute (ESSTI), the satellite, once launched into space, “will provide all the necessary data on changes in climate and weather-related phenomena that would be used for agriculture, forestry and natural resources conservation activities.”
Ethiopia is presently developing the country’s first-ever satellite, a 70kg Multi-Spectral Remote Sensing Satellite, known as ETRSS-1.
The Entoto space observatory facility, which will host the satellite’s command and control center once it’s launched into space, is East Africa’s only space observatory facility located on the 3,200-metre hills of Entoto on the outskirt of the capital Addis Ababa, it was noted.
Last month, the Ethiopian President Sahle-Work Zewde had also disclosed that Ethiopia’s first-ever satellite will be launched with support from the Chinese government.
ETRSS-1, which already recognized as Ethiopia’s first-ever satellite, once launched into space, is expected to monitor weather patterns for better agricultural planning, drought early warning and forestry management, it was noted.
