SA to return to space: Pandor
(Defense Web) February 23, 2010, By Leon Engelbrecht
Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor says her department is looking at the possibility of reactivating and re-establishing space rocket launch facilities in South Africa, confirming a statement by an official in Parliament last year. Nomfuneko Majaja, the government`s Chief Director Advanced Manufacturing Space Affairs at the Department of Trade and Industry told the National Assembly last July that "it was hoped that SA would be in a position to be a launching state in five to ten years time." Pandor was speaking at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research's (CSIR) Satellite Applications Centre (SAC) at Hartebeeshoek, west of Pretoria, at an event at which a live video feed from South Africa’s SumbandilaSat microsatellite was publicly shown for the first time, the Engineering News and other media this morning reports. “We intend to strengthen the technological and space skills in South Africa,” Pandor said. “Sumbandila is a very significant development for us. Our new satellite provides us with a number of cost and competitive advantages.” Pandor added SA has previously spent more than R60 million a year buying images from other satellite owners.
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