NIGCOMSAT-1 one year after…rage, tide and hope

By SEGUN ORUAME

Africa's first commercial satellite is in space. Selling services has its aches and strong points writes SEGUN ORUAME

Nigeria made history in the early hours of May 13, 2007 with the launch into orbit
of the Nigerian Communication Satellite (NIGCOMSAT-1), Africa's first communication
satellite. NIGCOMSAT-1, which covered a distance of 35,700 kilometres from the earth
and launched from a military base in China, would be following the trail of
Nigeria's entry into space science with the successful launch of the country's first
satellite in space: NigeriaSat-1, in September 2003 by UK based Surrey Satellite
Technology Limited (SSTL).

NigeriaSat 1 is described by SSTL as "the Nigerian contribution to the international
Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC) project. It is an earth observing
microsatellite built by SSTL on the Microsat-100 platform. It features a 32-meter
resolution imager in 3 spectral bands.

"The Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC) is a novel international co-operation
in space, led by SSTL bringing together organisations from seven countries: Algeria,
China, Nigeria, Thailand, Turkey, the United Kingdom and Vietnam. The DMC Consortium
is forming the first-ever microsatellite constellation bringing remarkable Earth
observation capabilities both nationally to the individual satellite owners, and
internationally to benefit world-wide humanitarian aid efforts."

Nigeria satellite initiatives have been anchored on the research efforts of the
National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) under Professor Robert Ajayi
Borrofice. NARSDA, in turn, gave birth to Nigerian Communication Satellite Ltd.
(Nigcomsat Limited), a public-private partnership created with the Nigerian Federal
Ministry of Science Technology incorporated as a commercial enterprise to handle the
marketing and management of NIGCOMSAT-1.

'NIGCOMSAT-1, located at 42.5° East, carries four C-band transponders, 14 Ku-band
transponders, 8 Ka-band transponders and 2 L-band transponders and is expected to
provide a wide range of communications service over Africa for 15 years.'

Now one year on and under its management team led by Ahmed Rufai, Nigcomsat Limited
has ridden through early doubts and controversies to remain one of Nigeria's viable
dreams to have a stake in the emerging Information Society. Rufai who has
responsibility to direct the company's growth strategy expressed optimism that the
company would be able to leverage on the growing demand for satellite capacity in
Africa.

Part of the early doubts was whether a Nigerian communication satellite would sell
and whether it a Nigerian company would be able to manage a high-tech communication
resource. Nigcomsat Limited with NIGCOMSAT-1 may have proved its critics wrong.
Turning one year with an increasing list of clients within and outside the continent
for its transponders has helped to build a formidable profile for the Nigerian
satellite communication company. The satellite company has helped to spearhead a
homegrown competition in a market traditionally reserved for international
operators.

Since its launch, NIGCOMSAT-1 has garnered market favour with patronage from the
Scandinavian Emporium Limited pushing premium bandwidth-eating services across West
Africa, the home based Linkserve, Galaxy Backbone, and several others to underscore
a mix of patronage from the private and public sectors.

But it is the African theme that best underscores NIGCOMSAT-1's increasingly
relevance in only 12 months of staying in orbit. It remains the only communication
satellite with direct footage all over the continent and the only orbital resource
designed to exclusively service Africa's communication needs.

"Africa is the primary focus of NIGCOMSAT-1. The entire design and engineering of
the communication satellite have Africa in mind unlike other existing satellites
that see Africa as a periphery of the business," said Rufai.



Some Facts on NIGCOMSAT-1

NigComSat-1 is a Nigerian communication satellite. It became the first African
geosynchronous communication satellite, when it was launched at 16:01 GMT on 13 May
2007, aboard a Chinese Long March 3B carrier rocket, from the Xichang Satellite
Launch Centre in China. The spacecraft will be operated by Nigcomsat and the
Nigerian Space Agency, NASRDA. The initial contract to build the satellite was
signed in 2004.

The satellite, which is the second Nigerian satellite to be placed into orbit, was
launched into a geosynchronous transfer orbit and subsequently it was successfully
inserted into a geosynchronous orbit, positioned at 42.5oE. It had a launch mass of
5,150 kg, and has an expected service life of 15 years.

It is based on the Chinese DFH-4 satellite bus, and carries a variety of
transponders: 4 C-band, 14 Ku-band, 8 Ka-band, and 2 L-band. It will provide
coverage to many parts of Africa, and the Ka-band transponders will also cover
Italy.

NigcomSat-1 represented a milestone for China's satellite export business. For the
first time the China Great Wall Industry Corporation provided all aspects of
in-orbit delivery of a satellite to an international customer. This included
satellite manufacture, launch services, ground station construction, project
financing, insurance and training.

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