Zimbabwe set to launch second satellite - crucial for climate monitoring and mining exploration
Zimbabwe is set to launch its second earth observation satellite, ZimSat-2, on Tuesday, November 5, marking a key advancement in the nation’s expanding space programme.
The launch will take place at Russia’s Vostochny Cosmodrome in Amur Oblast, subject to favourable weather conditions.
The ZimSat-2 project is the result of a joint research collaboration between the Zimbabwe National Geo-Spatial and Space Agency (ZINGSA) and Southwest State University (SWSU) in Kursk, Russia.
With a planned operational lifespan of five years, the satellite will provide essential data to support Zimbabwe's climate analysis and agricultural planning.
This information is especially critical for Zimbabwe, a country that has faced severe droughts and food insecurity due to shifting rainfall patterns linked to the El Niño phenomenon.
ZimSat-2 will also play an essential role in mineral exploration, a vital sector for Zimbabwe’s economy. The country’s mining industry is highly diversified, boasting nearly 40 different minerals, including significant deposits of platinum group metals (PGMs), chrome, gold, coal, lithium, and diamonds. Zimbabwe holds the world’s second-largest platinum deposits and high-grade chromium ores, with an estimated 2.8 billion tons of PGM and 10 billion tons of chromium ore.
This launch follows the success of Zimbabwe’s first satellite, ZimSat-1, which was launched in 2022 from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, USA, as part of the BIRDS-5 satellite constellation by Uganda, Zimbabwe, and Japan.
By 2023, ZINGSA confirmed that ZimSat-1 was fully operational, with downlink and uplink functions stabilised.
