Collaborations of SIA with African Countries
Embedded Files
Cooperation with Kenya
Cooperation with Kenya
The San Marco Project (1962-2014)
The San Marco Project (1962-2014)
Prof. Luigi Broglio, Dean of SIA for many years and head of Sapienza San Marco Project, created the first off-shore launch base in the world, located in a strategic position, being an equatorial range (Malindi, Kenya). This base was also the first one, and maybe the only one, to be owned by a University. We were in the sixties and the launches were performed until 1988, year into which Italian government decided to stop financing this pionering phase (that brought Italy to be the third nation in the world, with the San Marco satellite in 1964, to build and launch a satellite) and concentrate to the aerospace industry. The ground segment is still operative but since 2016 management passed from Sapienza to the Italian Space Agency (ASI). The Malindi equatorial range has been created under a bilateral agreement between the Italian and Kenyan governments. This agreement has been recently renegotiated and promoted by Senator Massimo Candura of Lega - Salvini Premier-PSd'Az: see discussion and approval of the draft law n. 1088 at the Italian Parliament, Senate, by clicking at the following link (the relevant part lasts about 4 and a half minute starting from time 4:34:39 to 4:39:06, dicussion and vote last up to 4:58:36)
Wernher Von Braun (left) visiting, in the sixties, the Italian launch base in Malindi, Kenya with Prof. Luigi Broglio (right)
Platforms of San Marco Project (left), Scout launcher on the platform (center), 1974 launch of Ariel 5 British satellite (right).
In the link below there is a 17 minutes movie recorded in 1970 showing all the operations for the launch of the Uhuru satellite. An X-ray space observatory that discovered the first X-ray source attributable to a black hole in the constellation of Cygnus (Cygnus X-1). The Italian Prof. Riccardo Giacconi was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2002 for his pioneer work in astrophysics which led to the discovery of cosmic X-ray sources. Famous is the bet between Kip Thorne (Nobel in physics in 2017 for gravitational waves) and Stephen Howking wheather Cygnus X-1 was a black hole or not.
University of Nairobi
University of Nairobi
Afri4Cast is an European Space Agency (ESA)-funded project on the use of satellite images to estimate production and identify diseases in plants. Main actors are the University of Nairobi and SIA-Sapienza. Responsible of the project is Prof. Giovanni Laneve of SIA-Sapienza. The project is in progress.
Panelist at Kenya Space Expo & Conference 2022. Prof. Laneve is the first at top left
Pwani University and Maseno University
Pwani University and Maseno University
A scientific collaboration with Pwani University has been promoted by Prof. Giovanni Laneve of SIA to monitor the equatorial ionosphere. This region of the ionosphere is the more complex and unique because the Earth magnetic field lines are parallel to the ionosphere, a condition that happens only in the equatorial region. This study is in the framework of space weather that rise important issues, above all in connection with mild or extreme space weather events. Those can infact degrade or even endanger electric power quality, radio communication, radar detections and navigation to mention just a few. With Maseno University it is planned to monitor the Victoria lake.
Cooperation with University of Rwanda and Universidade Eduardo Mondlane (Mozambique)
Cooperation with University of Rwanda and Universidade Eduardo Mondlane (Mozambique)
Project AfriCultuRes
Project funded by H2020 of European Commission. In this program satellite images of Africa and in particular of Mozambique are used to support agriculture. The Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, University of Rwanda and SIA Sapienza are the main institutions in the program. Responsible of the project is Prof. Giovanni Laneve of SIA Sapienza.
Kick-Off Meeting Progetto AfriCultuReS in Addis Ababa. Prof. Laneve is third from left on the first row
Participation to the international workshop organized by the Kenya Space Agency representing the AFriCultuReS project
ASCO Science Center in Nigeria
ASCO Science Center in Nigeria
A.S.C.O. is the acronym of the Assumpta Science Center Owerri. ASCO is building an interactive science centre in the heart of Africa, at Ofekata near Owerri, in Nigeria. The goal of ASCO is to spread the science and technology culture amongst young Nigerians and Africans in general. For more details visit the page "Partners in this project" in this website by clicking here below and then by clicking in the index; "ASCO Science Center in Nigeria".
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