Ghana Prepped to Host Africa Space Centre―MESTI

The Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI), has announced its readiness to Host the Africa Space Centre (ASC).

According to the minister-in-charge, Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, if Africa needs to launch any satellite or send any individual into space, Ghana is well positioned for the task.

 

The Minister made this announcement when his Ministry the met the press, in Accra, Yesterday.

 

“We are in the centre of the world, the equator and the meridian is not too far from us. So, if we want to send a satellite into orbit, from the equator we can get to the orbit faster than at any other place in the world,” he said.

The minister added that Ghana’s closeness to the sea further positions us for the ‘eyed’ opportunity.

He indicated that, “…all nations that go to space position their launch bus close to the sea so that if something happens they can channel it to the sea. So, I think we are at better position to host this.”

Aside a conducive geographical positioning, Prof Frimpong Boateng talked about Ghana’s efforts in training human capital for an opportunity like the ASC.

“We are generating some human capital and for some years now, at The Ghana Space Science and Technology Centre (GSSTC), we are training people in the area of astronomy and space science. So, we are there,” he noted.

According to him, “If you go to Kuntunsi, and see the young scientists who are looking into space, capturing signals from far away, millions of life years from earth and processing it so that we can understand what is happening, is fascinating and we should be proud of them.”

Currently, five countries including Ghana have bided for the headquarters of a yet to be established space agency by the African Union (AU).

The countries are; Egypt, Ghana, Namibia, Kenya and Ethiopia.

By: Grace Ablewor Sogbey/ [email protected]