UoN to deploy Kenya's pioneer satellite into space tomorrow

Set for launch tomorrow Friday May 11, 2018 at 1 pm, the satellite measuring about 10 by 10 centimetre cube and weighing 1.2 kilogrammes was delivered into a large spacecraft built by several countries to continually orbit around Earth commonly referred to as the International Space Station (ISS) on April 2. Kenya’s first satellite will be deployed into the orbit from the Japan Space Agency (JAXA) Tsukuba Space Centre in Tokyo, Japan.

Speaking in a press conference at the University last week, the vice-chancellor Prof Peter Mbithi said that the satellite was developed with the help of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa) and the support of KiboCUBE a programme launched in September 2015 by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA).