CSIR SAC's new 7,3 m X-band antenna was inaugurated on 25 March 2009, providing another milestone on the road to increasing knowledge about our country.
The more we know about ourselves and the better our Earth observation data, the better our policy decisions can be. This in turn leads to more predictable economic growth and more sustainable development. The monitoring and evaluation of our planet and our country, enabled through remote sensing and its science, has become a foundation for these judgements.
Earth observation will become one of the central pillars of the new South African National Space Agency, and we all expect that SANSA will motivate a further expansion of South Africa's satellite engineering and applications know-how. (SumbandilaSat, our second indigenous satellite, is expected to be launched at the end of May 2009.)
Our goal is to make South Africa a global player in the Earth observation satellite domain, and this includes ongoing participation in initiatives such as Global Monitoring for Environment and Security, the Group on Earth Observation (GEO), African Resource and Environment Management, the International Disaster Charter and others.
The X-band antenna is a welcome addition to the equipment we have to achieve these objectives. It was obtained specifically to streamline the acquisition of Earth observation data and to alleviate the pressures caused by the spectacular growth in this field of science in South Africa.
The antenna specifications enable it to satisfy the requirements for sensors which, it is envisaged, will be added in the future. This is far-sighted thinking, but more importantly, we will now be able, not only to enjoy more frequent acquisition of the SPOT 5 Earth observation data that government has sponsored, but also to access data which is freely available through agreements with our international partners, e.g. the China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite; SAC-C, an international cooperative mission between NASA, the Argentine Commission on Space Activities, the French Space Agency, the Brazilian Space Agency, the Danish Space Research Institute, and the Italian Space Agency; and the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS).
We need to take care of our planet and its people. We need to take care of our country and its people. We have an obligation to do what we can to ensure that our neighbouring countries are taken care of. We can do all of this better if we are able to monitor, clearly and consistently, changes that are taking place, and the opportunities and challenges that emerge. The X-band antenna will help us do exactly that, and I congratulate everyone involved.
Minister of Science and Technology, Mosibudi Mangena
Contact Raoul Hodges, CSIR Satellite Applications Centre Manager,
Tel 012 334-5002, rhodges@csir.co.za