Launch of Kenya's Taifa-1 satellite delayed yet again
A file image on a 3U Earth Observation satellite suspended in space. It is similar to the Taifa-1 satellite set to launch on April, 11 2023. PHOTO|COURTESY.
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The satellite's launch was initially meant to take place at the Vandenberg Base in California, aboard a Falcon-9 rocket owned by Elon Musk's Space X company, on April 11 before being rescheduled to Friday due to unbalanced weather conditions.
Taifa-1's launch has since been pushed to Saturday, April 15, at 9:44 am.
The satellite was built by a team of nine Kenya Space Agency (KSA) engineers, at a total cost of Ksh.50 million.
The team worked in collaboration with Endurosat AD, a Bulgarian aerospace manufacturer, that supplied components of the satellite's body.
KSA's objective of sending the satellite into space is to provide precise and timely earth observation satellite data to stakeholders in diverse fields of application including agriculture and food security.
The mission will also aim to "develop Kenya's technical capacity across the entire value chain of space technology development and applications."
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