The launch of Uganda’s first-ever satellite, PearlAfricaSat-1, has been postponed to tomorrow, Monday, November, 7, America’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced on Sunday afternoon.
The launch of Uganda’s first-ever satellite, PearlAfricaSat-1, has been postponed to tomorrow, Monday, November, 7, America’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced on Sunday afternoon.
“Today’s planned CRS18 launch has been scrubbed due to a fire alarm at the mission operations control center in Dulles, Virginia. Liftoff of the Cygnus spacecraft is now set for Nov. 7 at 5:27am ET (10:27 UTC). We’ll go live at 5am,” NASA said in a statement.
Whereas everything was set for the launch to happen, on the last hour, a fire alarm at the operations control centre saw the plan aborted until the following day.
“The Cygnus spacecraft and Antares rocket remain healthy at the Wallops launch site. The next launch attempt will be Monday, Nov. 7, in a five-minute window that opens at 5:27 a.m. EST. Weather for that window is currently forecast as 75% favorable: High pressure looks to continue to provide tranquil weather to the Mid-Atlantic before breezy conditions impact the Wallops area Tuesday.”
The development of the satelite is part of the Joint Global Multi-Nation Birds Satellite Project that began in October 2019 after President Museveni directed the development of a National Space Agency and Institute.
This followed Uganda’s agreement with Kyushu Institute of Technology (Kyutech) in Japan, and involved upskilling the three graduate engineers to design, build, test, and launch Uganda’s first satellite.
The satelite was developed by Ugandans Edgar Mujuni, Bonny Omara, and Derrick Tebusweke.
According to engineers, the PearlAfricaSat-1 will help provide research and observation data in six primary areas including weather forecast; land, water and mineral mapping; agriculture monitoring; infrastructure planning; border security, and disaster prevention.
