A South Africa-based\u00a0 technology expert, Prof. Robert Zyl, has said Africa should develop technical capability and infrastructure that best support the development of indigenous space technologies.<\/p>\n
Zyl, who is the Director, French South African Institute of Technology (F\u2019SATI), Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa, gave the advice in a lecture he delivered at the 2013 Centre for Space Science and Technology (CSTD) Week conference. The theme of the lecture was \u201cAchieving Space Benefits through Corporate Partnerships\u2019\u2019.<\/p>\n
He said the continent should be an intelligent user of data to promote the development of its space market through commercialisation and use of indigenous space technologies, products and services. Zyl said Africa\u2019s space market must reflect user needs on the continent, while technical skills and expertise must be developed as a precondition for the development of the industry.<\/p>\n
He also called for infrastructure development in support of the space industry in the continent.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe technical capability and infrastructure must form the basis for cutting edge research and development that further promote research and development leading to industrial development,\u2019\u2019 he said. Zyl said \u201cthe technologies, products, and services to be developed must respond to the African space market.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
The director added that to develop an indigenous space industry that would promote and respond to the continent\u2019s space market, the key driver must be the market pull.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe quality and process maturity must meet the globally accepted space industry standards, while local content must be the motivating factor.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Zyl, however, urged Nigeria not to relent in its effort toward domestication of satellite technology, including local manufacturing and launching of satellites.<\/p>\n
He said any country with capacity in locally manufactured satellite would enjoy cost advantage, job creation and high end specialised engineering and scientific skills.<\/p>\n
Other advantages are industrial development, advanced manufacturing and specialist engineering, inspirational value and promotion of foreign business.<\/p>\n
\u201cLocally manufacturing of satellite will also motivate learners to choose a career in engineering and space science, boost motivation for an indigenous capability, while it also promotes a nation\u2019s economic stature.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis will also demonstrate the country\u2019s capabilities, technological impact, human capital development in satellite engineering and transformation of its core engineering,\u2019\u2019 Zyl said.<\/p>\n
The director also advised Nigeria\u2019s space agency to strengthen its collaboration with relevant institutes and agencies for socio-economic development.<\/p>\n
He said although big budgets were being spent in space activities across the globe, it was beneficial to everyday life and society.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn spite of the high costs, space activities provide tremendous returns to the community in terms of job creation, technological know-how, scientific knowledge\u00a0 and other spin-offs,\u2019\u2019 Zyl said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A South Africa-based\u00a0 technology expert, Prof. Robert Zyl, has said Africa should develop technical capability and infrastructure that best support the development of indigenous space technologies. Zyl, who is the Director, French South African Institute of Technology (F\u2019SATI), Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa, gave the advice in a lecture he delivered at the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-icttelecom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=71402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71402\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=71402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=71402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=71402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}