The National Space Research and Development Agency’s (NASRDA) Centre for Satellite Technology Development (CSTD), says it has developed a four-year strategic implementation pla.
The plan it said would enable it achieve its mandate of satellite designs and development.
Dr Sadiq Umar, the Acting-Director of the centre, who recently assumed leadership of CSTD in December 2021, said this on Thursday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
The plan, 2022 to 2026 had six strategies which included Research, Development and Innovation Excellence, Human Capital Development, Administrative Efficiency, Digital Transformation, Enabling Infrastructure and Strategic Partnerships and Collaborations.
Umar said that his leadership would reactivate existing partnerships, and engage in strategic technical staff training, among other innovations to ensure the centre developed satellite technology in the country.
“Over the year, NASRDA is working in close partnership with Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, China Greatwall Industries Cooperation, China Academy of Space Science and Technology, QTech in Japan.
“We need to reactivate and rejig our relationship with those space faring nations.
“I came up with an idea to have a unit under innovation that will bring about new ways of doing things, space is a global community and space is about communication.
“We have emerging technologies like the robotics, computer vision, machine learning, Internet of Things and the country can no longer function if we don’t get used to these new ways of doing things.
“Over the years, we have been training and retraining but we need to improve on the development of our technical staff.
“It is the technology that will bring reduction in prices because it is used in agriculture, in medicine,” he said.
The acting director further said that they would engage in strategic training of the centre’s engineers, scientists in the area of space science and technology, in testing, electronics, error dynamics, control and propulsion.
According to him, they are collaborating with some local institutions like Baze University, Airforce University, Kaduna, the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure, among others for national space programmes’ development.
“We are engaging in the technical collaborations for our Assembly and Testing lab, some of these technologies before you import them, you need to have some license, Non-Disclosure Agreement.
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“We have a local partner ready to work with us, our director-general is passionate about technology, we will get there and in no distant time we will get our testing and assembly integration facilities for satellite manufacturing.
“Satellite design and development is about focus, we need to restrategise our goals and vision, objectives to space research and development,” Umar said.
According to him, we have restrategised, we have our engineers and scientists on deck, ready to work to actualise our dreams.
“One of the major dreams is to build and inaugurate a Made-in-Nigeria satellite on Nigeria soil between now and 2030, it is a vision and we can realise it, once you are determined we can get there and that is my position.’’
(NAN)
