Taye Obateru and Chris Ogbonna
26 July 2007
Jos — Director General of National Space Research Development Agency (NASRDA) Professor Robert Borrofice has said Nigeria will send it first astronaut to space by the year 2015 and launch an indigenous satellite from the country without foreign assistance by 2018.
He disclosed this at a public lecture on space technology development in Nigeria yesterday organised by the National Centre for Remote Sensing (NCRS), Jos.
Represented by a Director in the agency, Dr. Joseph Akinyede, he said the second Nigerian satellite (SAT II) with a higher resolution than the first one would be launched in 2009.
He said space technology development would help cushion the devastating effects of natural disasters and other man-made problems through early warnings before they occur.
He challenged Nigerians to take interest in space technology which he said had become a part of our existence in this era of globalization.
Delivering a lecture on the role of NCRS on Nigeria 's satellite technology, its Director, Prof. Jacob Olorunfemi said space technology had been used in the area of agriculture, telecommunication and water resources development as well and the management of disasters among others.
He said the centre was out to advance knowledge through the research and application of space technology in various aspects of human endeavour.
He believed that the problem of cyber crime and vandalizing of pipelines would be greatly reduced by the time the Nigeria Sat-II was launched in about two years from now.
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