National Space Research and Development Agency

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Please improve this article if you can. (June 2007)

The National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) is the national space agency of Nigeria. It is a part of the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology and it is overseen by the National Council on Space Science Technology.

1 History
2 Scope
3 Planned missions
4 References
5 External links

[edit] History

NASRDA was established in 1998 by the Nigerian government with a primary objective of establishing a "fundamental policy for the development of space science and technology" with an initial budget of $93 million.

[edit] Scope

The initial scope of the Nigerian Space Programme (NSP) to be implemented by the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) should include:

The study of basic space science in order to lay the foundation for deriving maximum benefits from the nation’s participation in the space enterprise; For the attainment of space capabilities, Nigeria’s efforts should focus on research and rigorous education, engineering development, design and manufacture, particularly in the areas of instrumentation, rocketry and small satellites as well as in satellite data acquisition, processing, analysis and management of related software; The establishment of a national earth observation station for remote sensing and satellite meteorology data acquisition. Such an infrastructure will enhance the indigenous ability to adopt, modify and create new techniques for national resources inventories, monitoring, evaluation and management; The provision of efficient, reliable and adequate telecommunications services in Nigeria in order to enhance the growth of the industrial, commercial and administrative sectors of the economy. The focus areas of the National Space Programme (NSP) include:

Basic Space Science and Technology to provide the understanding of how the universe works and what its impact is on the world. This will enable us to lay the foundation for deriving maximum benefits from the nation’s participation in the space enterprise.

Remote Sensing to help Nigerians understand and manage our environment and natural resources using space-acquired information. This technology will enable us to better understand our land, air and water resources and their associated problems.

Satellite Meteorology to study atmospheric and weather sciences using satellite data to facilitate the effective management of our environment.

Communication and Information Technology to provide efficient and reliable telecommunications services for Nigeria in order to enhance the growth of the industrial, commercial and administrative sectors of the economy.

Defence and Security. The Federal Government shall develop a necessary Space Science Technology (SST) programme that will address the national needs of Nigeria. For this purpose the government shall establish a Defence Space Command in the Ministry of Defence. The Command shall comprise representatives of the defence, intelligence, security and law enforcement services and report through the Ministry of Defence to the National Space Council.

[edit] Planned missions

NigeriaSat-2 - commenced November 6, 2006, due for launch in 2009[1]
NigComSat-1 Communications satellite to provide rural internet access - 2007

NigeriaSat-1 is a satellite of the standard Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC) design. It carries an optical imaging payload developed by SSTL to provide 32 m ground resolution with an exceptionally wide swath width of over 640 km. The payload uses green, red and near infrared bands equivalent to Landsat TM+ bands 2, 3 and 4. Images are stored in a 1-gigabyte solid-state data recorder and returned via an 8-Mbit/s S-band downlink.

NigeriaSat-1 can image scenes as large as 640 x 560 km, providing unparalleled wide-area, medium-resolution data. The data will be used within Nigeria to monitor pollution, land use and other medium-scale phenomena.