RIDE Space, a digital platform ensuring a collaborative effort between satellite operators and launch providers, is partnering with Senegal and Centre Spatial Universitaire de Montpellier (CSUM) to integrate the country’s first satellite, GAINDESAT. The Earth Observation (EO) satellite will be integrated into Vigoride, Momentus’s Orbital Transfer Vehicle (OTV).
According to Dr Gayane Faye, the Coordinator of the Senegalese Space Project, SENSAT, “Senegal, through the Ministry of Higher Education, Research, and Innovation, has wholeheartedly committed to SENSAT. After three years of hard work in collaboration with the University Space Centre of Montpellier (CSUM), GAINDESAT is ready to launch”.
Furthermore, the satellite will play a crucial role in collecting valuable data for Senegal, contributing to firefighting efforts, flood management, erosion control, and advancing agricultural development.
In 2019, Senegal laid out a two-year timeframe to build and launch its first satellite. Through this satellite, Senegal aims to take advantage of space applications for socio-economic and scientific development and create a thriving local space ecosystem for scientific research and industrial innovation.
