Following a R27 million investment in the Cape Peninsula University of Technology’s space programme, the engineers and students are looking to build more satellites and further strengthen South Africa’s presence in space.
In December last year, the programme launched its second nanosatellite, ZACube-2, following the 2008 launch of ZACube-1, which tracks ships in the seas surrounding southern Africa.
Senior mission engineer Nyameko Royi, who is from Durbanville, said: “The ZACube-2 is what we call a demo satellite as its mission is not only to track the ships, but also to provide us with enough feedback so that we can go back to the Department of Science and Technology to get more funding like the R27 million, which will allow us to produce more satellites and also maintain the ones that we build and send up into space.”
Director-general of the Department of Science and Technology, Dr Phil Mjwara, said the investment was made after the successful launch of the two satellites. “When we worked with CPUT and when we heard that the first two satellites were successfully launched, we were delighted about the progress made. As part of building our space capacity we started looking for additional resources and we were able to source an amount of R27 million. We will be working with CPUT to develop the next constellation. If you monitor the sea you must monitor constantly. You need persistent monitoring and three, four, five satellites are what you need to provide that constant presence.”
The satellite was built at the Bellville campus by CPUT’s space programme, which has up to 12 Master’s degree students and a team of three senior engineers, such as Mr Royi as well as five professors and development engineers.
Head of the CPUT Space Programme, Professor Robert van Zyl said: “This is the culmination of 10 years of very hard work, the first nano-satellite was launched in 2013 and that satellite told us that we can build satellites that can last in space. Space is a very hazardous environment. If you launch a satellite and it doesn’t work then that is it the end of your mission, so we had to make very sure that we are building reliable technologies that will last.”
External engineering companies such as Cube Space as well as engineering students from Stellenbosch University also assist in the construction of the satellite, which is made out of aluminium.
Mr Royi said: “ZACube-2 is currently in space to monitor ships around southern Africa. The satellite picks up frequencies from the ships in order for the South African National Integrated Cyber infrastructure System (NICIS) to keep track of their whereabouts and it can even pick up if certain ships are in the wrong place or not. The satellite can also pick up dangers such as fires or even if the ships are being taken over by pirates.”