Ethiopia’s Satellite Contributes More in Gathering Information: Experts (December 18, 2019)

Ethiopia will launch its first Remote Sensing Satellite (ETRSS-1) on Friday December 20 from a space station in China.

Dr Getnet Feleke, a Physicist at the Kotebe Metropolitan University, told FBC that the launching of the satellite would contribute a lot in gathering beneficial information.

He further said that it will release Ethiopia’s dependency on other countries for information.

Dr Getnet, who is also a member of the Ethiopian Space Science Technology Institute, stated that Ethiopia needs to plan ahead to launch other satellites.

Yelikal Chalew, Satellite Research, Development and Operation Director at the Ethiopian Space Science Technology Institute, said Ethiopian and Chinese experts had participated in the designing of the satellite.

This, according to him, has created key capacity to manage all works by Ethiopians after the launching of the satellite. They acquired the necessary knowledge, he said.

The satellite would help distribute information to different offices after they are processed at the Entoto space observatory facility by Ethiopian experts, he added.

According to Yelikal, Ethiopia will launch additional remote sensing satellites over the coming three years.

ETRSS-1 is fitted with a high resolution camera.