Space Fostering African Societies

Experts and media outlets have noted the recent growth of the African space industry. However, the continent’s production and utilisation of space science, technology and services remain amongst the lowest in the world. The African Union (‘AU’) has recognised that enhanced utilisation of outer space is a crucial means of furthering socio-economic development. A vibrant space industry across the continent is therefore needed. This chapter will first outline the AU’s blueprint for space utilisation which includes its 2063 Agenda, Space Policy and Space Strategy as well as the impending African Space Agency. It will then examine five elements necessary for a successful African space industry: (i) Law, policy & a regulatory framework (ii) capacity-building (iii) public awareness of the advantages and disadvantages of outer space utilisation (iv) avoidance of capture and (v) the establishment of an African-owned, African-based spaceport. The chapter concludes by suggesting that a globally competitive African space industry is feasible with, inter alia, the implementation of the five elements discussed.

Zimbabwe has abundant mineral resource reserves, and like most other countries on the African continent, it is mainly dependent on primary productions for exports as well as economic growth. In fact, much of Zimbabwe’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is hinged on the mineral sector, though vast mineral reserves are yet to be quantified and exploited due to a lack of capital and infrastructure. While Zimbabwe is well-endowed, the location, variety and quantities of these reserves is unknown, as the last, comprehensive geological survey occurred at the time of independence in 1980. This has hindered new and current interest in the mining sector, resulting in the nation losing out on potential foreign direct investment. Seeking a solution to this, on the 26th of July 2018, the Ministry of Higher Education and Technology established the Zimbabwean National and Geo-Spatial Space Agency (ZINGSA), intended to use satellite Geospatial Information Services (GIS) technology to monitor the country’s large, unmapped mineral reserves, focusing on lithium and graphite, through its Mineral Mapping Programme. The author pays particular focus to the potential socio-economic benefits of a satellite mineral-mapping programme for Zimbabwe, and presents it as a feasible option to good natural resources management within Zimbabwe’s borders and beyond.

The issue of remote sensing raises a number of important questions of international law. It is understood that remote sensing activities are in themselves legal, as provided for by both the Outer Space Treaty as well as the Principles on Remote Sensing. This has, therefore, resulted in a wide variety of applications for remote sensing from using the data to predict extreme weather conditions, and evacuate would-be victims, to detecting desertification on previously arable land. This wide variety of applications, however, can be seen as the basis for concern surrounding remote sensing data violating the right to privacy. The right to privacy therefore needs to be analysed very carefully, and with consideration while bearing in mind the benefits which can be derived from remote sensing technology. This chapter therefore explores the nature and development of satellite technology and weighs that against the righto privacy as it is protected in terms of international law.

Malawi, a developing country in Sub-Saharan Africa declared 15 of its 28 districts flood prone areas. Based on the review done by the Department of Disaster Management in Malawi, the country faces the challenge of inaccurate or unreliable flood monitoring and warning services. Lack of high-resolution data contributes to this challenge. Therefore, this research has analysed the extent of applying low to medium resolution data (DEM, soil, land use) in Hydrologic Engineering Center-Hydrologic Modeling System (HEC-HMS) by the Hydrologic Engineering Center of the Army Corps of Engineers in the United States of America. The HEC-HMS hydrological model was simulated to provide the following outputs: the peak discharge (m³/s); total flow (m³/s); and volume (m³) per given drainage area (km²) for all the subbasins, reaches, and junctions. The statistical analysis of the model outputs presented the Standard Deviation Ratio (RSR) of 0.458, Percent Volume Bias (PEV) of 0.10%, and, Percentage Error in Peak Flow (PEPF) of 2.89%. The overall Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE) coefficient, that measures the accuracy of the model prediction with respect to mean of the observed values, was 0.79. The coefficient of 0.79 was more than 0.75  which means it was a very good model prediction. According to the standard general performance ratings for recommended statistics, the model was rated very good.

Egypt’s landscape is changing rapidly and continuously and this is highly affecting the developing of the economy. No tools other than remote sensing for monitoring the land use is effective. Millions of land images are widely available today from the satellite images, these land images have to be classified into different categories to ensure proper land management and land decision making. Our main objective is to explore the use of deep learning for the land classification of Egypt’s remote sensing images. Our chapter exploits different deep convolutional neural network models to extract features from the images followed by category classification by supervised classifiers. We report at the end the accuracy and the performance comparisons between the different testing models on three different standard datasets and on Egypt’s land images. Standard datasets are used to fine-tune the classifier layers of the pre-trained CNN networks AlexNet, VGG16 and ResNet. In general the SVM classifier outperforms the other two tested classifiers (KNN and the Naïve Bayes). The highest accuracy, 94.7%, achieved by ResNet model on the RS19 dataset. We obtained our dataset from Google Earth Engine from different parts of Egypt. The Egyptian dataset is used finally for testing without retraining the classifier layers to test the ability of the models for real-time applications. We achieved a highest accuracy of 60% with AlexNet.

Reflective practice, most simply, is thinking about what one does professionally, how one does it, and what one can learn from experience. It is commonly found in a diverse range of disciplinary fields, including education, nursing, and social work, but rarely (if at all) in the space sector. As such, this chapter presents a reflection on practice from the perspective of an African scholar engaged in the continent’s space sector, with the primary goals of elucidating new insights of self and practice, calling on other space sector practitioners to do the same, and calling for greater solidarity, dialogue, and collaboration within Africa’s space sector. The argument is made in this chapter that Africa’s space sector practitioners are ideologically motivated revolutionary cadres, engaged in a struggle against, among others, misconceptions, lack of support, shortage of scientific and research skills and output, and an underappreciation of the role of space in supporting Africa’s developmental aspirations. The proposed ideology of the cadre is outlined as a system of organised beliefs framed by, among others, various continental and national developmental policies and strategies. The space sector cadre formation and the African cadre ecosystem for space models are also presented. This chapter thus proposes a first step towards a greater inclusion of reflective practice in the African (and global) space sector, motivated by the goal of seeing all participants becoming not just consumers but also producers of knowledge.

The fast growing Space technology sector has much to offer terrestrial society both from a technological as well as an economic point of view. Application of cutting edge technology for commercial gain has seen the space industry become a powerful enabler of entirely new business concepts such as “ride-hailing services” which is primarily based on the ease of accessing accurate location information. In addition to the aforementioned commercial role, space technology has been deployed very effectively in benefiting the common good. One of the areas where space technology has already demonstrated its ability as an enabler of goodwill, is by acting as progress agent for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) with many examples available. As is the case with any application of goodwill, the question can be asked if enough is being done, and in this case can more be done with what is already in existence? The purpose of this work was to propose a simple model to identify additional application opportunities for existing SDG supporting space applications, especially for the benefit of people in infrastructure-challenged areas such as Sub-Saharan Africa. The scope of the work was limited to the construction of a basic model using publically available data and not the actual mechanics of how it is to be achieved.

Spaced-based services, including financial services, are proving more affordable and accessible to more people than ever before in history. Coupled with the rising acceptance of blockchain-based cryptocurrencies, satellite-hosted financial services can be delivered to people around the world, particularly for the benefit of remittance-senders and displaced persons. An accessible and secure blockchain-based financial system hosted via a satellite platform wields strong potential in promoting sustainable development in Africa. This research explores the technical policy and technological considerations that would be necessary to implement such a system. The article explores the feasibility of such a satellite-hosted financial system and its potential benefits for reducing the transaction costs of remittances sent from developed to developing countries, in addition to its benefits for assisting internationally and internally displaced person to store and access their wealth irrespective of their ultimate settlement location.

The Dream Chaser is a space vehicle currently under development by the Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) for purposes of carrying humans and cargo to low Earth orbit. In 2016, the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) entered into an agreement with Sierra Nevada Corporation to fly experimental payloads on the Dream Chaser. The collaborative UNOOSA-SNC Dream Chaser mission will be approximately two to three weeks in duration, with the Dream Chaser orbiting Earth at an altitude of 500 km with an inclination of 0–35°. This will be the first space mission dedicated to attaining the Sustainable Development Goals. In this chapter we assess the feasibility of landing the Dream Chaser Space Vehicle in South Africa. The research dictates having to possibly establish a dual-use airport/spaceport recognised by the South African Space Council under supportive legislation to enable re-entry and landing of spacecraft in South Africa. Elements addressed in this investigation range from physical facilities such as the airports, workshops and laboratories, through Dream Chaser specific requirements and specifications, right down to space and civil aviation regulations. Relevant information and publicly available on government owned infrastructure, available private facilities and supporting entities that will facilitate the safe landing of the Dream Chaser space vehicle in South Africa was assessed. This investigation prefaces the University of Cape Town’s SpaceLab plans to submit a proposal in response to calls for possible alternative landing sites for the Dream Chaser outside of the USA. This chapter is the first major step in researching and documenting the potential for landing the Dream Chaser or any reusable space vehicle in South Africa. This research is now particularly pertinent as an official Call for Interest (CFI) has been announced by UNOOSA.

In recent years, an increasing number of African states have launched their first satellites and joined the international space community. This is a very welcome evolution since their further technological development will greatly depend on space applications. However, the rules of international law need to be respected to ensure the safe and sustainable use of outer space for the whole of humankind. One of these rules is the notification of space objects (meaning mostly satellites) to the United Nations and the setting up of a national registry by the relevant national authorities. These international obligations and their implementation in African countries will be analysed.

Space-derived data lies untouched in data vaults, while many potential use cases for space applications are not exploited by the space industry. This gap may exist because the conceptualisation of the user in the space industry is too narrow, and yet influences the architecture and thence outcomes of a satellite mission. Assumptions about users and markets are not made on the basis of data and market research, in itself typically difficult to obtain, especially in Africa. This results in a lack of understanding of the end user and their social and economic context which feeds back to inadequately scoped requirements in satellite design. This limitation has impact especially for developing country applications, where the user and beneficiary concept elide in often unexamined and unchallenged ways. This study explores the gap between potential users in Africa and satellite technology and mission design, and how this gap is not solely economic in origin.

This chapter seeks to address the need for a regulatory framework to govern access to outer space resources. By analyzing the Roman law origins of the common heritage principle contained in the Outer Space Treaty and the Moon Agreement, it is first established that outer space resources are res communes omnium and therefore capable of exploitation. Following this, the need for a regulatory framework to regulate such exploitation is discussed. Rather than create a framework ab ovo, this discussion suggests a pragmatic approach by drawing from existing regulatory frameworks for international resources, such as the Antarctic Treaty System and the UNCLOS. A special focus is placed on dispute resolution mechanisms and the Vatican is proposed to be an ideal candidate as an arbiter for space law, taking into account its historical position in similar roles and its relation to space law. Finally, a uniquely African perspective is provided by considering the various barriers to entry in the space industry for developing nations, the ethics of investing in outer space and how nations with incipient space programs can be provided for through the framework in order to protect access to space resources and achieve substantive equality in international law.