South African National Space Agency (SANSA) was chosen by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) for the role of the designated provider of space weather information to the entire African continent. In this role, they will serve the aviation sector in the African Airspace and in so doing, improve the performance and reliability of technological systems when providing information.
In the process of this accreditation, SANSA went through a thorough assessment process and has now finally joined the Russia-China centre as the only two ICAO-designated regional space weather centres in the world.
SANSA, over time has been responsible for providing the country with forecasts and important early warning announcements concerning space weather conditions and now, they will extend this function to the International Aviation community. To bring this to reality, they will partner with PECASUS, the Pan-European Consortium for Aviation Space Weather User Services and will serve all flights within the African airspace.
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This is a great development for South Africa’s Space Science sector and the Department is quite excited about it. “South Africa’s designation as a regional space weather information provider will grow the science, engineering, technology and innovation sector, offering opportunities to develop scarce skills and increase national research output, while ensuring that usable products are generated from the knowledge” they said.
Space weather, which is caused by the sun, earth’s atmosphere and magnetic field has the ability to alter the performance of aviation equipment and other technology related to it. Since the world today is greatly interconnected, the negative effects of space weather has been maximized and in some cases, will lead to failures in communication, navigation, energy and aviation. SANSA plays a great role in alleviating that in the Africa.
SANSA also said it will play its position in engaging other African countries as well, and It will share its data, host infrastructures, organize trainings, develop products and also collaborate.
“The country’s space science programme is feeding the knowledge economy and placing the national system of innovation at the centre of South Africa’s developmental agenda,” they added.
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