ETRSS: Ethiopia’s first satellite launched from China

Ethiopia launched its first satellite, ‘Ethiopian Remote Sensing Satellite’ (ETRSS) from China. ERSS is a remote-sensing microsatellite, that was launched in order to help African country’s research into climate change. It was sent into space together with 8 other satellites by a Long March-4B carrier rocket from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center (TSLC) in Shanxi Province of north China.

About Ethiopian Remote Sensing Satellite (ETRSS)

This wide-range multispectral remote-sensing microsatellite weighs about 65 kg and has a design life of 2 years. It can obtain remote-sensing data for agriculture, forestry, water conservation, as well as disaster prevention and mitigation. The satellite was donated to Ethiopia by China and this microsatellite program has helped establish strong collaboration between Ethiopia and China.

The satellite was designed by Chinese and Ethiopian engineers and Chinese government paid about $6m of more than $7m manufacturing costs.

Application: The satellite data will be used for monitoring and analysis of agriculture, environment, drought, natural disasters, mineral exploration, weather forecasts and climate change.

NOTE: This launch makes Ethiopia the 11th African country to put a satellite into space and Egypt was the first in 1998.