Ethiopia in Space
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The Ministry of Innovation and Technology of Ethiopia announced that Ethiopia will launch the first satellite "ETRSS-1" on 17 December 2019 with the help of China. This satellite was designed, developed and manufactured by Ethiopia and China, and is used for mobile phone data related to water, agriculture, climate change and environmental protection. The satellite will be launched from China, and the control and command station will be located in Ethiopia. According to the Ministry of Commerce, Ethiopia ’s Minister of Innovation and Technology, Getahon, recently said that Ethiopia will launch the first satellite, the multi-spectral remote sensing satellite ETRSS-1, with China. The satellite will lift off from China and be commanded and controlled by the Ntoto Observatory on the outskirts of Addis Ababa. The satellite will be used to monitor climate and weather change data and serve Ethiopia's agriculture, forestry and environmental protection. During his visit to China in April 2019, Prime Minister Ethiopia inspected the 70-kilogram satellite at the China Academy of Space Technology.

Ethiopia said 12 January 2017 it would launch a civilian satellite into orbit in three to five years to better predict weather conditions and for remote sensing activities inside the country. The Ethiopian Ministry of Science and Technology said the country ess likely to launch the satellite from a facility in China. It is not clear how much the project will cost and whether it will have military uses. Ethiopia aimed to be a space science hub and has a Space Science Council chaired by the prime minister.

The announcement came after a severe drought left more than 10 million people hungry and killed several thousands of animals in the past two years. In early 2016 a program was being tested that provided satellite maps of land traditionally grazed by cattle owned by pastoralist groups. They help communities identify where to go and potentially reduce cattle loss and improve food security. The satellite-assisted pastoral resource management program run by Project Concern provides pastoralists with maps that show which areas are better than others. Community leaders consult the maps and then dispatch scouts to the areas for confirmation. It saves time and helps leaders make better decisions.

Ethiopian capacity to build its own satellites is increasing, thanks in part to partnerships with foreign governments and companies, said Wondwosen Andualem, spokesman for the Ethiopian Ministry of Science and Technology. The Ethiopian government said it plans to build both the satellites and launch rockets locally with minimum reliance on foreign partners. In November 2015, the Mekele Institute of Technology in Ethiopia launched a rocket called Alpha Meles 30 kilometers into space. The rocket cost an estimated U.S.$2.3 million to develop, build, and launch. There have been no reports of subsequent launches.

Ministry Public Relations Director Wondwosen Andualem said a prototype of the carrier rocket was prepared as a launch pad for the actual work. Both the satellite and its carrier rocket would be locally manufactured according to the Director, who indicated its significance for security, weather forecast and other services. “Efforts are ongoing to launch into space a medium sized rocket within the coming three years,” Andualem said. Ethiopia’s efforts to manufacture the satellite and its carrier rocket locally will allow the country to compete with other countries seeking to launch satellites at the equator, Andualem said.

The government has created the Space Science Council and the Ethiopian Space Science and Technology Institute, both headed by the Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn.

The Ethiopian Space Science Society, launched in 2004 by three aspiring astronomers, has recruited 10,000 members. It opened East Africa’s only space observatory on the 10,500-foot summit of Mount Entoto, overlooking Addis Ababa. The astronomical observatory founded in Ethiopia by a private company in August of 2015 was the first step toward a space program in East Africa, and other countries like Nigeria and South Africa have launched satellites within the last two decades.

Egypt, fearing its access to the Nile river will be hindered, plans to use a new satellite to track Ethiopia’s construction of Africa’s largest dam. The Egysat, launched in March 2016, will monitor Ethiopia’s Grand Renaissance Dam by capturing high quality photos of the construction site along with other sources of the Nile.

Ethiopia was set to launch its first earth observatory satellite in September 2019, joining a list of few African countries that have put the devices into orbit. “The satellite will be launched from China while the control and command station will be in Ethiopia,” said Dr Solomon Belay Tessema, the director general of the Ethiopian Space Science and Technology Institute at the Addis Ababa University November 3, 2018. He added that “most preliminary and critical design is done by our scientists.”

China has provided training and $6 million for the project, according to Dr Solomon. He said the design, development and manufacturing of the satellite, done in collaboration with the Chinese, cost $8 million. “Our main goals for launching this first satellite are two. The first is to build technology application capacity and skills of our engineers through collaborations with different countries’ space scientists and institutions,” said Dr Solomon.

He noted that the technology and knowledge transfer will enable the Ethiopian scientists “design, build and launch the second satellite independently.” There are 20 Ethiopian aerospace engineers involved in the satellite project. About 60 masters and PhD students are also taking part in research and training at the space institute as well as the country’s multibillion-dollar Entoto Observatory and Research Centre, Dr Solomon said.

Ethiopia would join seven other African countries that have built and launched satellites. They are South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, Ghana, Algeria, Morocco, and neighboring Kenya – which launched its nano-satellite in May 2018.

The African nation's first satellite, designed and built by Chinese engineers, was launched by a Chinese rocket on 20 December 2019. The Ethiopian Remote Sensing Satellite-1, or ETRSS-1, was sent into space by a Long March 4B carrier rocket from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in North China's Shanxi province.

“This is a day we became one of the 70 countries in the world that operate a satellite from space,” said Ahmedin Mohammed, an official with Ethiopia’s Innovation and Technology Ministry. “The next step is to launch a communication satellite and also set up a space materials assembly and manufacturing facility here in Ethiopia.” Ethiopian space officials stated both Ethiopian and Chinese engineers took part in the construction of the 72 kilogram (159 pound) satellite that took three years. The total cost of the satellite was $8 million, of which $6 million was covered by China, said Ethiopian officials. Ethiopia hopes to save up to $11 million a year by using their own satellite data.