Kenya’s first satellite Taifa 1 finally launched after THREE failed attempts
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Taifa 1, Kenya's first operational earth observation satellite, launched to space aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in the US
Taifa 1, Kenya’s first operational earth observation satellite, launched to space aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in the US.
On Saturday, April 15, SpaceX successfully launched Taifa-1, Kenya’s first EO 3U nanosatellite.
Falcon 9’s launch of the Transporter-7 mission to low-Earth orbit was conducted at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
US-based Space-X, which manufactures and launches the world’s most advanced rockets and spacecraft, canceled the lift-off of the Falcon 9 rocket three times due to bad weather.
On Tuesday, the mission was again delayed to Friday at 9:48 EAT in the hope that by then there would be improved weather conditions but an attempt to launch in the midst of the bad weather was stopped by the director of the mission to hold slightly before liftoff as the weather conditions could not permit the mission.
The launch was thus postponed again by 24 hours to Saturday morning at 9:48EAT when the rocket blasted off into space and approximately nine minutes later, returned to earth touching down on Space X’s Landing Zone 4.
The 70 metres tall rocket is a smallsat rideshare rocket that also launched 50 other satellites into orbit including CubeSats, microsats, and payloads amongst them Turkey’s 800kgs high-resolution Earth Observation Satellite, the heaviest payload at the top of the stack in what Space-X in the Transporter 7 mission.
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The satellites will be used to collect greenhouse emission data, hyperspectral images, and data for research.
Taifa one is a 3U earth observation satellite developed and designed by Kenyans but manufactured at Endurosat in Bulgaria all in a span of two years at a cost of Sh50 million.
It is insured by Marsh Limited, a Space and Satellite insurance firm.
There are about six types of artificial satellites in the world which vary in size and attitude deployed depending on the purpose.
The largest is the International Space Station which serves as a habitable space lab.
An earth observation satellite is used to capture images of the earth; some are flown low to produce more detailed images.
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