Days ago, we reported that the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) was going to launch a satellite from Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, USA, on the 1st of June, 2017. Well, the launch happened but not on the earlier reported date. The initial schedule was aborted due to adverse weather condition however, two days later, the satellite successfully launched at 10:07 a.m making FUTA the first ever university in Nigeria to launch a satellite.
More details as to the direct benefit of the satellite have now emerged. Code named NigeriaEdusat-1, it was was designed to domesticate the satellite technology in FUTA and also to be used for research purposes, as well as for resources and environmental management, and sustainable socio-economic development of the nation.
Ibukun Adebolu of FUTA’s Department of Mechanical Engineering is the representative of Nigeria on the project and was credited with designing the satellite; a collaborative effort between FUTA, the National Space Research and Development Agency, NASRDA, Abuja, Nigeria, and Kyushu Institute of Technology, Japan.
The satellite is expected to have docked at the International Space Station, ISS, yesterday (June 5) to be deployed into lower orbit in the last week of June 2017 from there.
