Kenya will today launch its first satellite made by University of Nairobi scientists.
Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed described the launch as one of the "most notable scientific development of our time".
"The first Kenyan university nano satellite precursor flight will be launched. This will be the first outer space object to be operated by a Kenyan university, the University of Nairobi," Ms Mohamed said.
"Satellites are the future low budget resources and hardware for space communications and satellite-based mapping of the earth and earth observations. Please join me, in advance, to congratulate the university for this most wonderful and prestigious achievement."
USES
The Sh100 million satellite was developed with the support of Sapienza University (Italy) and experts from Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
Ms Mohamed will lead a delegation to witness its deployment.
Vice Chancellor Peter Mbithi said the satellite will be used in collecting data on climate change, wildlife mapping, earth mapping, weather forecast, coastline monitoring, transport and logistics.
In 2016, UoN became the first institution to benefit from a joint project between the United Nations and JAXA, which seeks to support educational institutions from developing countries to manufacture their own satellites.
RESEARCH
The project dubbed KiboCUBE was started in September 2015.
Japan provided the funding and a platform for construction of the satellite.
Prof Mbithi said successful deployment of the satellite will herald the next phase for institutions and Kenyan scientists and engineers to develop bigger higher resolution satellites with serious scientific and technological value for the country.
Meanwhile, the Education ministry will in the next financial year spend Sh3 billion on research and development activities.
Ms Mohamed said this is six times more than the Sh500 million that the ministry used to spend.
"I wish to announce that the general aim of the government is to reach a level where we spend two per cent of gross domestic product on research and development, up from the current 0.89 per cent. Even then, this is a massive improvement from the 0.48 levels."
