Kenya has began to seek cooperation with the Chinese Space Agency in order to boost the nation’s satellite technology capacity, according to a Kenyan official on Friday.
Mwangi, an engineer with the Kenya Space Agency, told reporters in Nairobi that the country is seeking international partners that could help grow its space industry.
“We are keen to partner with China, which has a robust and vibrant space industry, and has launched a number of satellites into space,” Mwangi said during the third annual Space Challenge Competition for Kenyan primary and high school students.
In 2018, Kenya launched its first nano-satellite, thrusting the country to the centre of cutting-edge technology which ushered the country into the hallowed ground of elite innovators in Africa after collaborating with Italy. Since then, the country has been making significant progress in developing its space capacity, with the inauguration of the Kenya Space Agency Board in late 2018.
Mwangi further stated that the Kenya Space Agency is still at the infancy stages and is yet to develop all frameworks and hence the need to collaborate with international partners.
The conversation around collaborating with China is coming barely a month after an experiment from Kenya was selected for observation in China’s Space Station.
