When ZIMSAT-1, the first satellite developed by Zimbabwe finally launched into space earlier today 07 November 2022, it was the culmination of an eight-year dream for Zimbabwean Space Systems Engineer Timothy Kuhamba.
Even though it took years, It’s something he’s always wanted to do. "Dreams do come true. 8 years ago I shared my dream on Facebook." says Kuhamba in a LinkedIn post. "that I have a dream for Zimbabwe. Special thanks to the Government of Zimbabwe and the Kyushu Institute of Technology BIRDS 5 team members."
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| Timothy Kuhamba |
The ZIMSAT-1 along with Uganda’s PearlAfricaSat-1 and Japan's TAKA launched into orbit via the S.S. Sally Ride spacecraft, named after the first American woman in space, from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa)’s Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island in Virginia, US at 5:32am ET (12:32 CAT) on a mission called Northrop Grumman Cygnus NG-18 -- a commercial cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station under the Commercial Resupply Services contract with Nasa.
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| From left PearlAfricaSat-1 (Uganda), Japan's TAKA and the ZIMSAT-1 |
The ZIMSAT-1 is set to support research on weather forecasting, agriculture, monitoring, border security, and disaster prevention among other things. It will be offloaded along with the rest of the cargo on the Spacecraft at the International Space Station. “The actual deployment of ZimStat-1 into space will be through the Japanese module. It is going to be deployed in the KIBO module. It happens two or three weeks after launch and we have scheduled it for November 21,” said Zimbabwe National Geospatial and Space Agency co-ordinator Painos Gweme as quoted by The Sunday Mail.
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| The Zimbabwe National Geospatial and Space Agency engineers resident in Japan for the development and integration of ZIMSAT 1. From left: Ramson Munyaradzi Nyamukondiwa, Victor Mukungunugwa (Project Manager) and Timothy Kudzanayi Kuhamba. |