(Ecofin Agency) - In a June 8, 2020 interview with Space in Africa, the new director of the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA), Francis Chizea, revealed that Nigeria will strengthen its space capabilities. The country is currently working on the launch of a new satellite to replace NigeriaSat-2, in space since 2011.

“We have carried out some feasibility studies which are in line with what is expected around the world and what the technologies are, and we are getting into the process of getting this done […] So, we have the idea of where we are supposed to build the facility that can allow us to build satellite components up to a 1000 kilograms […] We’ve been able to build some components for the spacecraft, so even for the satellite that we plan to launch, one or two of the components that will fly out will be built by us,” Chizea said.

NigeriaSat-2 is an Earth-observation satellite launched in 2011 to provide high-resolution images over a 20-km bandwidth. It was developed and built by the British company Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) and was launched at the Yasny military base in Russia by the Ukrainian rocket Dnepr.