El Pais: African nations join forces to enter the modern space race
An article published at the end of June 2023 in the Spanish news daily gives a quick overview of what AfSA can bring to the Continent in the Space field. The G&A Program Coordinator outlines his views
Africa's space aspirations go back over 60 years. For a long time, Africa's commitment to Space was either limited or not very visible. This is no longer the case. One by one, African countries are slowly joining this club, and the pace is accelerating. 40% of them have already taken the plunge.
What's more, this movement is being structured behind the African Union - space strategy, space policy, African Space Agency (AfSA) - which is in a position to give it new impetus, to defend African interests on another scale and in other fields of intervention, while building on the momentum launched by the pioneering member states.
Whether or not everyone will sign up depends on a number of factors, but there are many convincing arguments in favor of space technologies in key areas of development. Earth observation, for example, uniquely offers a wealth of more or less continuous information where none exists, or where it is difficult to obtain. And yet, even though Africa is already a major consumer of services produced by space technologies, it is not benefiting from them.
Even if the road ahead seems long and complicated, time has come to change that.
Source: https://english.elpais.com/international/2023-06-29/african-nations-join-forces-to-enter-the-modern-space-race.html with special thanks to the author, Mr Rodrigo Santodomingo
Link of interest: https://gmes4africa.blogspot.com/2023/04/newspace-africa-conference-2023-africa-ready-to-leap.html
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