Egypt’s Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, is set to establish the Satellite City Industrialization and Assembly Center sometime this year in cooperation with China, the minster announced on 16 February 2020.
He also announced that Egypt will carry out cooperation protocols with various countries in space-related fields, including France’s Centre national d’études spatiales (CNES).
Abdel Ghaffar noted several important partnerships in space sciences with countries including France, Kazakhstan, Italy, China, the US, and he referred to agreements signed during the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) in August 2019. Space related fields depend not just on the manufacturing and launching of satellites, the minister said, but also extend to scientific research in space, medicine, and other fields.
The Egyptian Space Agency’s CEO Mohammed el-Qousy unveiled future protocols with Egyptian universities and the agency’s training programs. It anticipates setting a schedule over the next decade to help meet Egypt’s ambitions in the space field, he said, which go beyond launching satellites. Egypt desires to explore outer space through sending its own spaceship, as well as conducting research on space medicine and waste, he explained.
Qousy also said that agency supports the efforts of Egyptian universities in setting up laboratories for space science.
The Egyptian Space Agency was established in 2018 to coordinate the efforts of various scientific bodies concerned with studying outer space and satellite technology, promoting Egypt’s development, and protecting its national security.
16 February was celebrated as Egypt’s Space Day, organized by the Egyptian Space Agency in partnership with the Arab Science and Technology Foundation. Egypt’s Space Day saw the participation of ministers, ambassadors from involved countries, and senior officials. A platform was launched to organize programs and activities in science, and promote dialogue between foreign researchers and scientists in Egypt, the wider Arab world, and Africa.
