Huge and formidably powerful, the Russian Delta Class IV nuclear submarine will play a major role in the SumbandilaSat project.

The R26 million SumbandilaSat (from “lead the way” in Venda) project has consumed a dedicated team of South African scientists, engineers and government officials for the best part of two years. The launch of the Department of Science and Technology’s 81 kg satellite, designed and built by Stellenbosch-based company SunSpace, will be a thoroughly satisfying finale to countless hours of intensive development and old-fashioned hard work.

It also represents the fruition of extraordinarily complex negotiations involving SunSpace, the Russian navy, the Russian space agency, South Africa’s Department of Science and Technology, various authorities in the United States, and countries along the flight path.

Think about it: a South African-built satellite is launched from a Russian nuclear submarine and carried halfway around the world aboard an ICBM before being released into low-Earth orbit over California. Twenty years ago, the very idea would have been preposterous. Today it’s simply another sign of changing times.

In essence, the sun synchronous satellite will give South Africa “affordable” access to space technology. Its 6-band onboard multispectral line-scan camera and video sensors, equipped with three different lenses, will scan the Earth at varying angles – 0,6 degrees (covering a 5 km area), 6 degrees (50 km view) and 50 degrees (about 500 km) – and transmit high-resolution images to a ground tracking station at the Hartbeeshoek Satellite Application Centre in Gauteng, with backup stations at Overberg Test Range, Bredasdorp and Stellenbosch University.