Insights
Analysis and reporting on the African space ecosystem.
Backed by platform data
Editorial & analysis
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Insight · Aug 2026
The African Aerospace & Space Industry
A living reference on Africa's space and satellite ecosystem — the countries, satellites, and national agencies driving it — backed by the SpaceHubs Africa intelligence platform.
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Insight · Jul 2026
Foreign involvement in African space
A data-backed view of foreign involvement across satellites, ground stations, and collaborations.
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Insight · Mar 2025
What is the future of the Kenyan space ecosystem?
From February 12 to 26, Kwaku Sumah, Managing Director of Spacehubs Africa, journeyed to Kenya to explore the dynamic and growing space sector of the East African nation. His trip was a deep dive into the people, projects, and challenges shaping Kenya’s space future, where he engaged with local pioneers and visionaries who are paving the way for the next generation of space explorers and innovators.
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Insight · Apr 2024
Promoting Radio Astronomy in Ghana through School Visits and Astronomy Clubs
PRAGSAC (Promoting Radio Astronomy in Ghana through School Visits and Astronomy Clubs), led by Albert Forson, aims to promote radio astronomy at a pre-tertiary level across schools and clubs in Ghana.
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Insight · Jun 2023
A Path Forward for the African Space Agency
The inauguration of the African Space Agency (AfSA) on January 25, 2023 heralded a decades long push for a continental agency to direct space affairs within Africa. In this edition, Kwaku Sumah asks, how can we build a path forward for the AfSA?
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Insight · Jun 2023
Antifragility and African Space Development
The inauguration of the African Space Agency (AfSA) on January 25, 2023 heralded a decades long push for a continental agency to direct space affairs within Africa. In this edition, Kwaku Sumah asks, how can we build an anti-fragile space industry?
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Insight · May 2023
How the Global South developed its Space Industry
The inauguration of the African Space Agency (AfSA) on January 25, 2023 heralded a decades long push for a continental agency to direct space affairs within Africa. In this edition, Kwaku Sumah asks, what can Africa learn from the Global South?
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Insight · May 2023
What can the African Space Agency learn from the U.S.?
The inauguration of the African Space Agency (AfSA) on January 25, 2023 heralded a decades long push for a continental agency to direct space affairs within Africa. In this series, Kwaku Sumah asks, what can Africa learn from the U.S.?
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Insight · Apr 2023
How Asia developed its Space Industry
The inauguration of the African Space Agency (AfSA) on January 25, 2023 heralded a decades long push for a continental agency to direct space affairs within Africa. In this series, Kwaku Sumah asks, what can Africa learn from Asia?
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Insight · Apr 2023
How Europe developed its Space Industry
The inauguration of the African Space Agency (AfSA) on January 25, 2023 heralded a decades long push for a continental agency to direct space affairs within Africa. In this series, Kwaku Sumah asks, what can Africa learn from Europe?
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Insight · Mar 2023
Can the African Space Agency enable a commercial space market?
The inauguration of the African Space Agency (AfSA) on January 25, 2023 heralded a decades long push for a continental agency to direct space affairs within Africa. Can the African Space Agency enable the commercial space industry in Africa?
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Insight · Mar 2023
Is There a Need for an African Space Agency?
The African Union Commission (AUC) and the Egyptian Government have, via a signed agreement, formally inaugurated and declared the African Space Agency (AfSA) open and operational. The signing happened on January 25, 2023, establishing the general framework regulating the relationship between the parties, which will serve as a platform for space research and innovation on the continent.
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Insight · Feb 2023
Tackling challenges in Sudan's agriculture sector using Cubesats
Until the discovery of oil, which led to the rise of services and industries related to the exploitation and export of oil, the agricultural sector was the most dominant sector of the Sudanese economy. Now that Sudan lost most of its oil resources due to the separation of South Sudan, the agricultural sector has regained its importance. Using CubeSats in Sudan will indeed help to solve major problems in agribusiness and will also push towards implementing the strategies suggested by the Sudanese
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Insight · Mar 2022
Multi-scale Flood Monitoring and Assessment Services for West Africa (MiFMASS)
The CSSTE Consortium, one of the beneficiaries of the GMES & Africa Support Programme- Phase 1, based in the West Africa region, identified gaps in Managing, Monitoring and Assessing Flooding disasters across the region which could be filled through M ult i -scale F lood M onitoring and As sessment S ervices for West Africa (MiFMASS) using Sentinel data and other freely available EO data.
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Insight · Jun 2021
The Dawn of A New Space Age for Mauritius
The year 2021 marks a huge step forward in terms of space exploration for the island of Mauritius. On June 3rd 2021, at 17:29 UTC * ( 21:29 time in Mauritius GMT+4 ), the first Mauritian satellite (a CubeSat - MIR-SAT1) was launched onboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket (Mission: CRS-22/SpX-22) from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
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Insight · Feb 2021
Why should African youth advocate for space?
Space advocates educate the public about space exploration and technology. In Africa, little effort is put into space education as the focus is more on space advancement through technology. Being a space advocate in a continent like Africa is quite a task, however it is vital for the development and advancement of space technologies on the continent.
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Insight · Dec 2020
How Africa can benefit from Satellite-based Augmentation Systems
Satellite-Based Augmentation Sýstems (SBAS) augment Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) such as GPS and Galileo. At a basic level, SBAS allows users to have more confidence in their data, with fewer position errors. What is the state of SBAS in Africa?
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Insight · Dec 2020
Africa’s Progress towards Human & Robotic Space Exploration
What does Africa stand to gain from human and robotic space exploration? This series will tackle each of these developmental nodes in turn, and provide a content-rich overview on the African human and robotic space exploration journey. Below is the first part of a nine-part article on this subject.
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Insight · Dec 2020
Assessment of GIS in Africa’s Space Ecosystem
Geographic information systems and technologies in Africa require two main infrastructures: spatial data and telecommunication infrastructures, to facilitate the proper use of data for policy-making, natural resource management and planning. What applications exist in Africa, and how can GIS be used to combat disease?
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Insight · Dec 2020
Digital Earth Africa in the African space ecosystem
The Digital Earth Africa platform (DE Africa), based on the Australian technological innovation Open Data Cube infrastructure, makes available free and open satellite imagery and EO data for the whole of Africa. DE Africa builds on the Africa Regional Data Cube (ARDC) which provided analysis ready data (ARD) for Ghana, Kenya, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Tanzania and demonstrated a demand for EO data from governmental institutions, academics and other stakeholders.
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Insight · Oct 2020
The Europe - Africa connection in space - Part 2
The ties between Europe and Africa are numerous. The close and complicated historical, cultural and geographical ties colour the backdrop of cooperation and collaboration. How has this partnership developed, and what are the bonds created in space? Part two takes a look at space science and funding.
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Insight · Oct 2020
The Europe - Africa connection in space - Part 1
The ties between Europe and Africa are numerous. The close and complicated historical, cultural and geographical ties colour the backdrop of cooperation and collaboration. How has this partnership developed, and what are the bonds created in space?
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Insight · Oct 2020
The need for space science education in Africa
There is a need for space science education and awareness for school children at primary levels of study (ages 4-15) across the continent. This approach, though long-term, is essential and imperative in this 21st century where government agencies and private companies are considering permanent lunar missions. It may also be the only way to avoid Africa being left behind.
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Insight · Aug 2020
Critically assessing space sector development in Africa – Part 3
When African governments devise initiatives to develop national or regional space sectors, stakeholders should keep these differences in mind to critically assess those initiatives. How can African countries structure their own space programs based on these approaches to develop their countries? How can African countries maximise the benefit of space technologies?
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Insight · Aug 2020
Critically assessing space sector development in Africa – Part 2
Governments in Africa will likely be influenced by the trend of governments around the world increasingly intervening to develop their national space sectors. They should, however, carefully consider their approaches to intervention before committing to them. One way to critically think about space sector development initiatives is to consider whether they are “enabling” or “steering” market activity. Stakeholders can better assess how to react to space sector development initiatives if they con
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Insight · Aug 2020
Critically assessing space sector development in Africa – Part 1
Governments in Africa will likely be influenced by the trend of governments around the world increasingly intervening to develop their national space sectors. They should, however, carefully consider their approaches to intervention before committing to them. One way to critically think about space sector development initiatives is to consider whether they are “enabling” or “steering” market activity. Stakeholders can better assess how to react to space sector development initiatives if they con
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Insight · Aug 2020
A new dawn: The Square Kilometre Array Project
The SKA project has allowed South Africans to participate in global science - why is this not highlighted like all the other negative things SA is known for? Whose role is it to highlight this?
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Insight · Aug 2020
African States and International Space Treaties
As often said, when men reached for the stars, lawyers reached out for their books. Space law in a nutshell is a set of rules regulating the legal relations between people and between states in outer space. How are African nations represented in these treaties?
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Insight · Jul 2020
New Space Success in Africa
Cape Town hosts many successful space startups in the area. These space companies are successful despite adversity in the area, such as poor infrastructure, little to no access to funding and troublesome national issues such as unemployment and poverty. With all of these challenges, how do South African startup companies become so successful?
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Insight · Jul 2020
Advocating for Research in the African Space Sector
In 2018 Elsevier noted that Africa “still accounts for less than 1 percent of global research output”. This is a major hurdle not only for the space sector, but for the growth and prospects of the African knowledge economy as a whole. Why is this so critical for space?
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Insight · Oct 2019
How space can help Ghana reach its development goals
Given Ghana’s record-breaking growth, governmental policies focused on development and growing workforce, it is in an advantageous position to effectively leverage the downstream benefits of space. How can space benefit Ghana?
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Insight · Oct 2019
The African Space Opportunity
Some of the challenges that the African continent faces seems tailor-made for the application of space science and technology. Why should Africans care about space?
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