Senegal marks milestone with launch of first satellite

Senegal has marked an historic milestone with the successful launch of its first satellite from California on Friday evening.

It has become one of just 12 African nations with their own surveillance and telecommunications satellites in space.

The country’s President Bassirou Diomaye Faye said the move marks a major step towards Senegal’s “technological sovereignty”.

“I would like to express my pride and gratitude to all those who made this project possible,” he said in a post on X.

Maram Kaïré, director of Senegal’s space agency, described the launch as “an important step and a historic day in our country’s progress and determination to become a space-faring nation”.

GAINDESAT-1A was built by Senegalese engineers in collaboration with France’s Montpellier University Space Centre.

The nanosatellite was launched into orbit, together with 115 others, from the Vandenberg base in California using SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket.

It will be used to collect data for various state agencies including those dealing with water resources, civil aviation, and meteorology.