The South African National Space Agency (Sansa) has changed its business model and culture and is overhauling, revising and aligning about 70 of its policies and systems to cater for growth in the space sciences, technology and services sector, says outgoing CEO Dr Val Munsami.

The organisation has started to actively look for additional funding and has developed a pipeline of projects valued at about R350-million.

Sansa is also concluding a bankable feasibility study on a R4-billion project, with the support of the Department of Science and Innovation, to build a series of Earth-observation satellites that will collect data from various spectral bands that can be used in an array of commercial and government applications.

The agency is also upgrading its ground infrastructure and its data infrastructure. It is working with various industries to build products and services that can be used by governments and private sector companies, he explains.

"A big project Sansa is building is a new R100-million space centre, which will be ready in September this year and will provide space weather services to the Africa continent," he says.

The space sector, and Sansa, is poised for significant growth over the next few years, as countries and companies build their capabilities. There are currently about 2 000 operational satellites in orbit and about 5 000 non-operational, defunct satellites.

"There are major consultations under way to place up to 2 000 additional satellites in orbit, with one wave of satellite launches potentially seeing up to 900 satellites deployed. There is a proliferation of satellites coming," highlights Munsami.

Space weather, and space science and technology, has an impact on the world and societies. For example, the current solar storm is causing problems with telecommunications, including satellite services, by injecting more charged particles into the ionosphere and causing signals to be absorbed instead of being reflected back down to ground stations or passing through it to and from satellites.

This is causing challenges with aviation telecommunications, and consideration of space weather information has become mandatory for flights as of November 2021, he notes.

Further, technologies originally developed for use in space also contribute to land-based technologies, such as cordless drills, water purification, thermal scanners that are widely used during the Covid-19 pandemic, and baby nappies and baby food, besides many others.

"[The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration] Nasa publishes reams of intellectual property each year that is used in other sectors. This is part of how space sciences can support innovation and development," he illustrates.

For example, using Earth-observation satellites, Sansa can monitor plants and crops using electromagnetic spectrum ranges including and beyond visible light. The characteristics of the spectra reflected differ between plants, allowing the agency to monitor, besides others, grasslands and forests, as well as commercial crops.

Further, the data gathered by these satellites can also show when crops are stressed, and determine whether this is owing to insufficient irrigation, disease or a lack of nutrients.

Using near- and short-infrared spectrum bands, the agency can determine whether a plant is wheat, grass or maize, for example. These types of applications typically use sun-synchronous orbits to look at variations over time, he says.

Further, if Sansa uses absorption bands of the electromagnetic spectrum, it can detect changes in large bodies of water, such as a lake or dam, and can detect changes, such as those caused by pollution or the growth of water-borne diseases, before the effects are visible.

"We have also validated our technologies on the ground. Using our satellite monitoring capabilities, we identified stressed crops. When we inspected the area on the ground, we confirmed that the maize crop had dried up and did not have sufficient irrigation," says Munsami.

South Africa's space programme was started to, among others, support and develop government's use of geographic information systems, which use satellite imagery to layer information onto geolocations for the purposes of policy making and monitoring.

"Sansa is also working, in partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA), on building a concurrent design facility. Sansa is modelling the facility after the ESA's concurrent design facility, which helps to reduce the time to design a satellite from 12 to 15 months down to three to four weeks. This is part of what Sansa aims to offer," says Munsami.

"We are also in conversation with Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to host the fourth deep space network for the organisation, alongside Australia, Spain and the US. These use ground-based satellite dishes of about 30 m in diameter to monitor and communicate with deep space communications satellites, and we are in talks to host the fourth deep space network in Matjiesfontein, in the Karoo.

"We have completed the environmental-impact assessment and this is a R3-billion project that could take place in which Sansa will further support space exploration. We already provide space exploration services, including for the Chandrayaan-1 lunar probe and for Nasa launches," he adds.

Meanwhile, Sansa also has assembly, integration and testing capabilities and facilities, although these currently still belong to State-owned defence technology company Denel. Sansa has secured R75-million to upgrade this facility and the Overberg test range.

"The two main paths [in the space sector] South Africa is looking at include nanosatellites, roughly the size of a loaf of bread, and small satellites, which weigh about 400 kg. Nanosatellites can monitor our ocean exclusive economic zones for rogue vessels. This is important because South Africa detected, using radar, a vessel bound from South America that had switched off its transponder, which was then discovered to have drugs on board," he illustrates.

Further, Sansa has about 70 antennae on the ground to track about 15 to 18 satellite passes a day, and which it uses to provide a range of services to clients.

"We have developed a list of priorities for the national space ecosystem and to manage our capabilities, as well as to support innovation and economic growth, as technology spin-offs are significant parts of space science. Environmental- and induced-spatial monitoring can support 13 parts of the National Development Plan's objectives and satellite information is required to monitor 76% of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals," adds Munsami.

Additionally, Sansa supports 60 master's and PhD students a year in the space sciences domain and has onsite accommodation for 20 students. These students are also directly supervised by Sansa staff. The agency has 15 internationally recognised researchers.

"Sansa is poised for significant growth with the growth in demand for satellite and space services. It is key to have our own capabilities on the ground to realise the potential benefits. The agency's changes are to grow the organisation," he concludes