South African satellite to arrive in space soon

SumbandilaSat, a South African built satellite will be launched into space on Tuesday with the help of a Russian Soyuz rocket from Baikonur Kazakhastan. The satellite cost R26 Million and weighs 81Kg. It was built by the help of the Stellenbosch University's engineering faculty.

SumbandilaSat will assist in managing disasters (floods and fires), food security (crop yield estimation), health (prediction of outbreaks), safety and security, water resources and energy security. Carrying high resolution cameras, it will produce images to be used for agriculture, mapping of infrastructure and land use, population measurement and the monitoring of dam levels. The information will be streamed to the satellite applications centre at Hartbeeshoek, near Pretoria.

Source: TechCentral