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The African Union launched the inaugural African Space Agency in Cairo, the second such regional body after Europe’s, in a sign of the continent’s growing space ambitions.
AfSA will coordinate the space exploration efforts of the AU’s 55 member countries as well as collaborations with international space partners. In an initial partnership with the European Space Agency, the body will work on climate-based Earth observation missions.
A second partnership with the United Arab Emirates Space Agency will be centered around developing small satellites.
More than a dozen African countries have satellites in space but none have deployed an astronaut mission. The continent also largely depends on foreign space launch facilities for its activities.
AfSA marks “a pivotal step” in “consolidating the continent’s role as an active player in the global race for technological advancement,” the Egyptian minister of foreign affairs and migration said at the body’s launch on Sunday.
