Ghana University sends its first satellite into space

The All Nations University College located in Koforidua, Ghana, is pleased to announce the school’s plans of sending its very first satellite into space. The spacecraft, called CANSAT, will be used to encourage potential students who plan on pursuing a career in the Space Science and Satellite Technology program the university began offering in 2012.

The Intelligent Space System Laboratory of the university, which built the first satellite of Ghana, was built as an educational project to support the collaboration and integration between engineering and science programs, and also to promote teamwork. In order to achieve such goals, the students of All Nations University worked on the CANSAT project, giving students practical training in conceptualizing the mission, planning and designing the satellite, and eventually building and testing it. The university lab is also working on putting up a satellite ground station for research purposes.

Space Science Ghana director Ashievi Kofi encouraged the nation’s government to financially support the university’s program, believing that it will help enhance the economic development of the country.

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Orbit awarded a $150 million satellite-gear contract

Orbit Technologies, one of the world’s leading satellite communications manufacturer and suppliers, announced that it had won a $150 million contract with one of the world’s largest satellite communications companies. The new agreement will find the Israeli-based company supplying Ka band communications systems, which is one of the emerging drivers of growth in the satellite industry.

According to Orbit Technologies CEO Ofer Greenberger, the new project offers great potential for the company to expand in a global scale. He said that the company will be supplying hundreds of Orband and Orsat systems, alongside over 2,500 antenna to be used for the GBSI initiative - a global satcom project that aims to launch 12 ka band satellites on a two-year period between 2013 to 2014. Mr. Greenberger said that aside from the satellite systems, Orbit will also be providing support services to the project.

The satellite communications company has already received a NIS 4 million order to start the project. This is good news for Orbit which suffered $1.1 million in losses during the first half of the year. Greenberger expressed his excitement that the new initiative will make the company a global leader in both the naval and land-based Ka band market.