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Ghana becomes the second African country to own a satellite dish
The new project would help advance space studies and exploration in the country.
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The launch of the first phase of the conversion of a telecom dish into a satellite dish on Thursday, August 24, by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo would make Ghana the second country in Africa to own a satellite dish after South Africa.
During a media briefing in Accra, officials from the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC) and the South Africa based Square Kilometer Array Africa (SKA Africa), who collaborated to sponsor and build the dish told journalists that the facility would help put Ghana on a higher pedestal of countries that are into space science.
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Professor Dickson Adomako, Director of the Ghana Space Science and Technology Institute (GSSTI) of the GAEC, said the first phase of the dish to be launched involved the structural work of the antenna, electrical works and the total configuration of the antenna which used to be a redundant telecommunication dish belonging to Vodafone Ghana that used to only point at one direction.
He said currently, there are some science commissioning going on at the Kuntunse site to be able to detect some of the celestial bodies to prove the effectiveness of the dish.
He said by the middle of 2019, the SKA Africa partners would totally hand over the dish to the Ghanaian community to manage.
Prof Adomako said although the project is purely academic and gives no defined effect on the Ghanaian people, it gives an opportunity for scientist and students to purse higher learning in space science in the country.
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He said in all nine partner African countries including Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Kenya, and Madagascar, who are studying the success of Ghana’s satellite to enable them also launch and use theirs in their respective countries.
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Prof said the internet connectivity within the Kuntunse area has improved so well while the roads within the vicinity has been constructed.
Ms Anita Loots, Head of Africa Planning Office of the SKA Africa, said Ghana’s satellite dish is a timely facility that would help in the effort of African scientists finding solutions for Africa.
She said: “attaining the SDGs depends very much on Africa’s ability to gather data on health, education, agriculture, sanitation and the economies to make informed decision”, and that was what the satellite dish would help in attaining.
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She said South Africa supported the construction of Ghana’s dish with GHC 30 million from their African Renaissance fund.
Ghana is also supporting the construction with two million Ghana cedis until the 2019 period.
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