BMA has learnt that Zambia spent more than US$14 million on building its first satellite station.
According to Science and Technology Minister Felix Mutati, the facility will be launched on a date to be announced once the ground-receiving station is built.
A ground-receiving station is a terrestrial radio station used for extraplanetary communication with spacecraft or to receive radio waves from astronomical radio sources.
In Zambia, the station is located in the Chibombo region of the Central Province.
“Experts are now testing the ground-receiving station as they prepare to go into the second phase of the preparations to launch the satellite,” Mutati said this past weekend in the capital, Lusaka.
“The government is committed to launching the satellite station, which will help in agriculture, forestry, groundwater management and other sectors.”
The satellite station will, among other things, help forecast the weather and limit the effects of climate change, such as drought.
Mutati stated that the government of President Haikande Hichilema’s decision to spend millions on the satellite facility during a period of drought and runaway debt demonstrated the government’s dedication to the technological project.
