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Tunisia (AFP)
The first satellite entirely made in Tunisia and dedicated to the Internet for connected devices has entered space, or what is called “the Internet of Things”, in a very important step for the country which has become the first Maghreb country to build a satellite.
Engineer Khalil Shiha from the National School of Electronics and Communication in Sfax (center) told AFP that participating in this project is a “source of pride” and that working in the aviation or space navigation is “a dream”.
The “Challenge One” missile, manufactured by the Tunisian telecommunications company “Talnat”, should reach its orbit around 10:20 GMT aboard a Soyuz missile.
Tunisia has become the first country in the Maghreb and the sixth in Africa to manufacture a satellite, according to the specialized site “Space in Africa”.
The experimental satellite aims to collect data from sensors, including thermometers, internet-connected pollution detectors, positioning chips or humidity sensors, to read them in real time even in uncovered areas. by the ground network.
The Russian “Soyuz” missile, which carries the Tunisian satellite as part of a group of 38 satellites, was due to take off on Saturday, the 65th anniversary of Tunisia’s independence. But he finally left from the Baikonur base in Kazakhstan on Monday morning, in an event that was followed from Tunis, the capital, by Tunisian President Kais Said.
“Our real wealth is the wealth of young people who are able to brave any hardship,” Saeed said, adding, “We only lack the national will.”
The $ 1.2 million project, which was launched in 2018, embodies the work of a team of young Tunisian engineers, accompanied by Tunisian experts abroad, including an expert who participated in the mission “Perseverance From NASA on Mars.
The transmission capacity of the “Challenge One” artificial satellite is 250 kilobytes per second over a range of 550 kilometers, and it will attempt to meet the growing need to connect things by satellite, as the terrestrial internet does not cover more. 20% of the Earth’s region.
In the next three years, “Talnat”, in cooperation with other African countries, seeks to launch a swarm of more than twenty satellites to commercialize this technology.
“This project paves the way for an innovative service to the region in an expanding field,” Talnat CEO Mohamed Fraikha told AFP.
As a sign of the region’s strong ambitions in the space industry, the United Arab Emirates launched the first Arab probe on Mars last month.
An African space agency and an Arab coordination group in the space sector were also created in 2019.
© 2021 AFP
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