Nigeria set to commercialise NigeriaSat-2, NigeriaSat-X

Nkechi Isaac
The Director-General (DG), National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA), Dr. Seidu Onailo Mohammed, has said that Nigeria will this month commence the commercialisation of imageries from the NigeriaSat-2 and NigeriaSat-X, the country’s two earth observation satellites launched into the orbit recently.
Mohammed made this disclosure during a working visit of members of the Space Engineering Division (SED) of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) to the agency in Abuja.
He said: “Over 150 imageries from the satellites have been downloaded at their ground station, all of which had been tested and proved to be of high standards that could be adopted for use in any part of the world.”
He said that the agency had already signed agreements with indigenous and foreign companies on the sale of the imageries.
“The first line software developers across the world were now developing modules from NigeriaSat-2”, he said, adding that this would assist the country to develop softwares that could be sold across the world.
The DG explained that NASRDA had the plan to use its data validation for ground measurement, address the lead poisoning in Zamfara State, identify mosquitoes breeding water bodies for intervention against malaria, deforestation in the South West and erosion information in the South East, among others.
He added that resource persons from various universities would be funded to participate in the validation process.
Mohammed said that collaboration between NASRDA and the SED in the implementation of the agency’s space programmes was necessary for achieving the country’s space roadmap and Vision 20:2020.
Earlier, the Chairman of SED, Engr. Michael Ogbonna Agu, had said the delegation was at the agency to renew the relationship between the two bodies.
Agu urged Nigerian engineers to study the performance and potential of the country’s satellites and contribute their quota to the development of its space science and technology.
He said that the space industry had become a key component in the development of any nation.
Also speaking, the National President of NSE, represented by his Deputy, Engr. Otis Anyaeji called for the sustenance of the cooperation between the society and NASRDA.
Anyaeji said the purpose of the industrial visit was to ascertain the performances of scientists and engineers on air space crafts and other efforts of the agency, expressing delight that over 70 per cent of those who designed the satellites were Nigerians.

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Posted by Administrator on June 10, 2012. Filed under Nigeria, Regional. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry