The Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), has
launched a CubeSat, with the code name NigeriaEdusat-1, into space from the
Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, United States.
The Nigerian Cubesat is a component of the Birds 1
satellites, comprising of four other CubeSats belonging to Japan, Ghana,
Mongolia and Bangladesh. They were launched from the SpaceX Falcon9 Rocket.
A statement issued in Akure yesterday by the Head, Media and
Protocol Unit of the university, Mr. Adegbenro Adebanjo, said the university
was poised to achieve major breakthrough with the new technology.
FUTA sought to make satellite technology popular among
members of staff and students of the university for the purpose of research,
resources and environmental management and sustainable socio-economic
development of the nation.
“The Nigerian CubeSat is designed, built and owned by the
Federal University of Technology, Akure in collaboration with the National
Space Research and Development Agency, Nigeria, and the Kyushu Institute of
Technology, Japan.”
The first ever university satellite to be launched in
Nigeria has Mr. Ibukun Adebolu of FUTA’s Department of Mechanical Engineering
as the representative of Nigeria on the project.
“The CubeSats would be launched and docked to the
International Space Station where the satellites would be deployed into lower
orbit during the last week of June 2017.
“The satellite technology development in the long run shall
have spillover effects on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics
education that is an essential tool for a country industrial development,’’ the
statement read in part.
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