South Africa to develop new high-resolution satellite

South Africa will develop a new high-resolution satellite to serve the economic growth, local media reported on Monday. South African Minister of Science and Technology Naledi Pandor said this when addressing the parliament on the issue of the space development, the South African Broadcasting Company reported. As part of the government drive to promote the economic development, South Africa is seeking to develop the new earth observation satellite in four and a half years, costing approximately 450 million rands (about 54 million U.S. dollars), said the minister. The new satellite would be sent into low earth orbit to provide high-resolution images for climate change and disaster management programs, which would be crucial to the economic growth like industry, agriculture and fishery. The project will coincide with the country's social development strategy, which strives to apply satellite technology to help improve people's livelihood and reduce the damages caused by natural disasters in the country and the region. The minister said the new satellite plan is part of the African Resource and Environmental Management Satellite (ARM) project, which is a constellation consisting of three or more satellites to observe the natural resources and monitor the climate change over the African continent. The agreement of forming the African satellite constellation ARM was reached between South Africa and other African countries of Nigeria, Algeria and Kenya in 2009. It will be the third South African indigenously-made satellite, with the two-year-old second one with a weight of 81 kg being out of operation in July 2011 and its predecessor of miniaturized Sunsat with a lifetime of four years launched in February 1999. In Africa, South Africa is advanced in the satellite system development, including satellite assembly, test, integration and launch. Several countries on the African continent are currently operating their satellites, with Egypt having one and Nigeria and Algeria with two each. It is estimated that about 20 satellites with coverage on Africa will be sent into space in the coming years to meet the needs of the continent.