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25 March 2009

Ladies and gentlemen

Less than three weeks ago, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) launched its Kepler Satellite to search the Milky Way for earth-like planets capable of supporting life. The spacecraft is equipped with the biggest telescope ever to be launched into space, and will spend the next three and a half years monitoring more than 100 000 stars in a patch of star-rich sky near the Cygnus and Lyra constellations.

The leader of the mission said: "Everything about the mission is optimised to find earth-size planets with the potential for life, to help us answer the question – are the earths bountiful or is our planet unique?"

We wish the Kepler project and its controllers the best of luck, and are confident that their search will make a very valuable contribution to science. But, what if our earth is one of a kind? What if our galaxy has no alternative accommodation for humankind? Will this realisation make us pay more attention to the proper care of our planet?

South Africans share the global custodianship of the earth. We are specifically responsible for the upkeep of a particularly beautiful part of it, and today we are here to celebrate a new tool that will help us carry out our duty more effectively.

When a handsome man goes out to meet a date, he checks his appearance in a mirror. But when a good looking country like South Africa needs to check her appearance, she looks at a computer linked to a satellite.

What we see on the computer screen depends on several factors, the position and capacity of the satellite; the strength of the signal; and the power, coverage and design of the antenna. It is our new antenna that is the cause of today's excitement. It will allow us to study our national appearance and behaviour in a detail never before possible, another feather in the cap of the CSIR Satellite Applications Centre and its telemetry, tracking and command services.

The work of the CSIR Satellite Applications Centre started with the support it provided to NASA in 1960. Next year we will celebrate the 50th anniversary of this productive partnership.

Back in October 2006, the CSIR entered an agreement with the French company SPOT Image to receive imagery from the SPOT satellite constellation under a multi-government licence agreement. This paved the way for more affordable business models for government, and forced single image prices down to more acceptable levels. The distribution of SPOT imagery from national to local government level, academia and research institutions over the past three years has been of unprecedented value for South Africa as a nation.

Also in 2006, my department and the CSIR combined forces to chair the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites for a year, from November 2007 to November 2008. This enabled South Africa to develop and establish a data democracy policy for Africa, and ensured the dissemination of free satellite data to Africa.

In November 2007, the department delegated the implementation of the South African Earth Observation Strategy to the CSIR Satellite Applications Centre.

In January this year, the President signed the South African National Space Agency (SANSA) Bill into law, which enables the establishment of South Africa's own space agency. We anticipate this agency to stimulate the country's capabilities in the innovative utilisation of space science and technology.

Earlier this month, South Africa's National Space Policy was launched by my colleague, the Trade and Industry Minister, Mandisi Mpahlwa, which gives direction to the country's space agenda through a unified and co-ordinated space policy.

There are many agendas for space, but none is more important to the South African cause than the task of looking after our own country and monitoring its progress. In this endeavour, satellites are the key, and the CSIRs highly successful Satellite Applications Centre is at the forefront of this critical effort.

Today we are celebrating the introduction of the new 7,3 metre X-band antenna, another milestone on the road to increasing knowledge about our country.

The more we know about ourselves, and the better our earth-observation data, the better our policy decisions can be. This will lead to more predictable economic growth and more sustainable development. The monitoring and evaluation of our planet and our country, enabled through remote sensing and its science, has become a foundation for these judgements. Geo-information helps us understand and measure the behaviour of various land cover and land use characteristics.

Earth observation will become one of the central pillars of the new South African National Space Agency, and we all expect that SANSA will motivate a further expansion of South Africa's satellite engineering and applications know-how. Our goal is to make South Africa a global player in the earth observation satellite domain, and this includes ongoing participation in initiatives such as Global Monitoring for Environment and Security, the Group on earth Observation (GEO), African Resource and Environment Management, the International Disaster Charter, and others.

The X-band antenna is a welcome addition to the equipment we have to achieve these objectives. It was obtained specifically to streamline the acquisition of earth observation data, and to alleviate the pressures caused by the spectacular growth in this field of science in South Africa.

The antenna specifications mean that it will be able to satisfy the requirements for sensors which, it is envisaged, will be added in the future. This is far-sighted thinking, but more importantly, we will now be able, not only to enjoy more frequent acquisition of the SPOT 5 earth-observation data that government has sponsored, but also access data which is freely available through agreements with our international partners, for example:

* The China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite
* SAC-C – an international co-operative mission between NASA, the Argentine Commission on Space Activities, the French Space Agency, the Brazilian Space Agency, the Danish Space Research Institute, and the Italian Space Agency),
* The Committee on Earth Observation Satellites, CEOS, which makes a vital contribution to the nine societal benefit areas identified by the intergovernmental group on earth observations.

I am very proud to report that during the year South Africa chaired CEOS, the CSIRs efforts greatly elevated South Africa's role in promoting data democracy, as part of our broader commitment to GEO.

More satellite excitement lies ahead. The launch of SumbandilaSat, our second indigenous satellite, is not too far off now.

I am pleased to take this opportunity to congratulate the CSIR on the new X-band antenna, which is another bold and proactive step in support of the South African Earth Observation Strategy and the broader space initiatives that are so important for our country.

We need to take care of our planet and its people. We need to take care of our country and its people. We have an obligation to do what we can to ensure that our neighbouring countries are taken care of. We can do all of this better if we are able to monitor, clearly and consistently, changes that are taking place, and the opportunities and challenges that emerge. The X-band antenna will help us do exactly that, and I congratulate everyone involved.

I thank you.

Issued by: Department of Science and Technology
25 March 2009
Source: Department of Science and Technology (http://www.dst.gov.za)