Africa is no longer just talking about space. It is building the people, institutions, satellites and technologies needed to compete in it.
From national space agencies and satellite programmes to a continent-wide African Space Agency, countries across Africa are developing the capacity to use space for agriculture, climate monitoring, communications, disaster management and security. The African Union has made outer space a flagship priority under Agenda 2063.
But who is actually building Africa’s space capacity—and can these efforts come together to create a truly competitive African space industry?
The African Space Agency, based in Cairo and officially launched in 2023, is expected to help bring these efforts together. More than 20 African countries now have active space programmes. Countries such as Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt, Kenya, Ghana, Algeria and Ethiopia have launched satellites or built facilities to support space activities.
These satellites are already being used for things that affect everyday life — from monitoring farms and tracking weather to supporting communication and responding to disasters.
But there is still a big gap between what Africa wants to achieve and what it can do on its own.
Most African countries cannot launch their own satellites into space. They have to pay foreign companies and countries to do it for them.
The same problem exists on the ground. Only a few African countries have the advanced facilities, data centres and skilled workers needed to build, control and use space technology.
This means some countries may own satellites, but still depend heavily on others to build them, launch them and manage the data they produce.
Africa’s Agenda 2063 recognises that countries cannot build a strong space industry by working alone.
The African Outer Space Strategy and Policy, adopted in 2019, calls for African countries to share resources, infrastructure, technology and expertise. The idea is simple: instead of every country trying to build everything on its own, African countries can work together and share the costs.
That is where the African Space Agency comes in.
Its job is to help countries work together on space activities, share satellite data, develop common rules and build systems that smaller countries could not afford on their own.
The big question now is whether African countries will actually work together.
If they do, Africa could move from simply buying space services from others to building its own space capacity.
If they do not, space development could remain a collection of separate national projects that are expensive and difficult to scale.
For ACALAN AU Media, this is a story worth following closely: Which African countries are doing what in space? Who has the technology? Who has the skills? And how can countries work together to build a stronger African space industry?
Because Africa’s space future should not be about a few countries reaching orbit.
It should be about the whole continent building the capacity to reach higher.