- On Wednesday, July 3, 2024, EnduroSat, a Bulgarian aerospace company, announced plans to partner with the Botswana International University of Science and Technology (BIUST) to build the nation's first software-defined satellite.
- Dubbed BOTSAT-1, the satellite is scheduled to launch on SpaceX’s Transporter-13 mission by February 2025.
- BIUST engineers will collaborate with the EnduroSat team in Sofia to complete the satellite assembly and payload integration.
BOTSAT-1 will support Botswana’s mining and agricultural industries. It will feature a hyperspectral sensory camera payload, a spatial resolution of 32 meters at an altitude of 500 kilometers, and a swath width of 32 meters.
Scheduled for completion in August 2024 and set to be launched aboard SpaceX's Falcon 9, the software-defined satellite will play a pivotal role in addressing Botswana's developmental challenges, fostering technological innovation, and promoting sustainable development.
By collecting data from multiple light bands and near-infrared portions of the spectrum reflected by the Earth's surface, the satellite will provide essential intelligence and insights for future planning and long-term investments. Additionally, SpaceX will oversee the launch logistics and conduct rigorous testing to ensure a seamless process.
Raycho Raychev, the Founder and CEO of EnduroSat, expressed his confidence in BIUST, stating, "The fact that the organisation has a long-term strategic growth vision and is strictly following that vision will enable them to build a formidable space program."
The collaboration with BIUST is expected to extend beyond this initial vision, as both the government and EnduroSat aim to establish Botswana as a space hub, underscoring the country's ambition for advancements in science and technology.
The companies will work together to create exchange opportunities based on EnduroSat's newly founded Master's program in space engineering and technology.
When the Southern African nation launches the satellite, Botswana will become the 16th African nation to have a satellite in orbit.
With the advancement of space exploration and research in Africa, it is unsurprising that Botswana has announced plans to join the list of countries in the African Space Agency. This development comes amid other groundbreaking news, such as Nigeria's plans to send its first citizen to space, Zimbabwe's launch of ZimSat-2, and StarVision's agreement with Zambia for the spaceborne AI algorithm rideshare.
