Kenya to launch its first locally made satellite into space
Kenya is set to make history this Friday if all goes as planned to deploy its first locally made satellite into space.
The Nano-satellite that was developed by students and researchers of the University of Nairobi in partnership with Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) was handed over to the JAXA Tsukuba Space Center in January to prepare for its deployment.
UoN director of corporate affairs John Orindi said a delegation, led by Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed, would witness the event in Japan.
Known as the First Kenya University Nano Satellite-Precursor Flight (1KUNS-PF), it will be the first CubeSat selected to be deployed from Kibo, which is the Japanese Experiment Module of the International Space Station (ISS), according to the university.
“The deployment ceremony will be done from Kibo Space Centre on May 11, 2018 at about 1pm Kenyan time. The Cabinet Secretary, Ambassador Amina Mohamed, will lead a powerful delegation comprising of government officials and university researchers to witness the event live,” he said.
More details about the preparations will be disclosed later today at a media briefing which will also be attended by the JAXA astronauts via video link from Japan.
According to the UoN, the 10 centimetre cube satellite (CubeSat) was developed under the KiboCube programme run by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and JAXA.
