Kenya Space Agency courts Chinese satellite firms on data access and training

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The Kenya Space Agency (KSA) has wrapped up a series of meetings with Chinese satellite makers, a ground-station operator and a leading aerospace university, as it looks for partners to give the country better access to satellite data and build local skills.

The delegation, led by KSA director general Maj Gen Hillary Kipkosgey, ended its visit at Beijing-based MinoSpace on Friday, October 16, the agency said in a statement. KSA has not announced any signed agreement or funding from the trip.

Satellite makers and ground stations

MinoSpace is a commercial company that designs and manufactures small to large satellites, focusing on what KSA described as “AI-ready optical and synthetic aperture radar satellites”.

Kipkosgey met the firm’s co-founder Huan Yiheng. According to KSA, the talks “focused on collaboration opportunities for enhancement of Kenya’s National space capability, including capacity building, access to satellite data and development of upstream and downstream capabilities, among others.” The delegation toured MinoSpace’s assembly, integration and test facility in Beijing’s Haidian District.

A day earlier, the team visited Emposat Co. Ltd, which provides telemetry, tracking and command services, builds ground stations and offers integrated space-ground communication systems. Talks with chairman and co-founder Zhao Lei centred on cooperation to strengthen Kenya’s space capability, KSA said.

The agency already works with STAR.VISION, a Chinese satellite company. In a post on October 14, STAR.VISION said it had hosted the delegation, which included Lt Col Nickson Kosi, KSA’s director of space applications and utilisation, and space systems engineer Hillary Wainaina. The company said the visit built on earlier work including its SpaceBorne AI Rideshare Algorithm Programme, and that the Kenyans toured its assembly and test facilities, command centre and ground station.

Training and research

On October 15, Kipkosgey visited Beihang University, the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics and his alma mater. Vice president Prof Zhao Weisheng told the delegation that nine Kenyan students are enrolled at the university in undergraduate and postgraduate courses, including aerospace engineering.

Beihang hosts a Center for Space Studies accredited by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs for the Asia-Pacific region and plans a Sino-Africa school in Morocco to serve as its African headquarters, KSA said. Kipkosgey called for closer cooperation with the agency on human capital development through aerospace study centres and backed a proposed alumni association for African students.

Briefing the embassy

Before the company visits, Kipkosgey briefed Kenya’s ambassador to China, Willy Bett, on October 14. He listed engagements with STAR.VISION, OrienSpace Rocket Manufacturing and Oriental Marine Spaceport Company, and highlighted capacity-building work with STAR.VISION on AI-powered processing and analysis of space data.

According to KSA, Bett said space had become “a very strategic domain” that Kenya needs to use given its geographic position, and that the country should work closely with the Chinese space industry. A STAR.VISION representative invited the ambassador to attend an upcoming rocket launch.

What it could mean

KSA’s stated aim of building “upstream and downstream capabilities” covers both ends of the industry: the hardware side of designing, building and operating satellites and ground stations, and the services side of processing and using the data they collect. Its work with STAR.VISION on AI-powered analysis of space data falls in the second group.

The next test is whether the talks lead to signed agreements, training slots or data-sharing deals. KSA has not given a timeline. Readers following Kenya’s technology sector can find more in our technology coverage, including the latest startup funding figures.