The South African National Space Agency (Sansa) and its French counterpart, the Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES – the National Centre for Space Studies), signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in Pretoria at the end of February, laying the foundations for future cooperation between the two organisations. The MoU was signed by Sansa CEO Dr Valanathan Munsami and CNES planning, international relations and quality director Jean-Pascal Le Franc.

“Sansa and the CNES have enjoyed a fruitful relationship for almost 40 years and this MoU cements the partnership with the intent of making greater strides in space investment both locally and abroad,” highlighted Munsami. Areas covered by the MoU include earth observation, space operations, space science, research and technology, and telecommunications. Further, the two parties will work together on international regulatory issues. The first discussions have been focused on the training of engineers, the International Charter on Space and Major Disasters and the Space Climate Observatory.

“The CNES is proud and honoured that Sansa is partnering with it in this wide-ranging cooperation, which builds on the already numerous and long-standing links between our two agencies, not least for space operations,” affirmed Le Franc. “Sansa plays a vital role in the development of space activities, not only within South Africa but across the African continent.

“Pursuing its policy of active cooperation with the new space powers, the CNES is delighted to consolidate its presence in Africa – a region of the world where the priorities of French space policy, especially tackling climate change, take on an extra dimension,” he added. French cooperation has been important for South Africa’s space activities. The CNES has a presence in South Africa that goes back decades, and there is a French ground station at Sansa’s space operations facility at Hartebeesthoek, west of Pretoria.

Sansa was officially launched in 2010 to take responsibility for all the country’s space activities, in the process taking over a number of pre-existing agencies. One of the most important was the Satellite Applications Centre (previously the Satellite Remote Sensing Centre) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. Located at Hartebeesthoek, it was set up in 1975 to take over the US National Aeronautical and Space Administration’s (Nasa’s) Satellite Tracking and Data Acquisition Network facility (and South African staff) at that location. The Nasa facility had been established at Hartebeesthoek in 1960. Another key agency absorbed into Sansa was the then Hermanus Magnetic Observatory (originally established in Cape Town in 1932).

CNES was founded in 1961 and serves to shape and execute France’s space policy. It works with scientists and industry, and is involved in many international projects. It employs some 2 400 people, of whom 1 800 are engineers and executives (35% being women). Its main focus areas are the sciences, launch vehicles (the Ariane programme), earth observation, space exploration, telecommunications, defence, and space-derived applications. While its head office is in Paris, its main technical and operational centres are in Toulouse (Centre Spatial de Toulouse – Toulouse Space Centre), in south-west France, and at Kourou (Centre Spatial Guyanais – Guianan Space Centre), in Guiana. Kourou acts as the spaceport for both the CNES and the European Space Agency.

France has a long connection with South Africa in space matters. Recently, the French South African Institute of Technology (F’SATI) has played an important role in developing South Africa’s nanosatellite (popularly called CubeSat) programme. To date, two CubeSats, designed and built at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology under the aegis of F’SATI and the African Space Innovation Centre, have been successfully launched into space. The second of these, ZACube-2, launched in late December, is intended to be followed by a constellation of new nanosatellites.

The signing of the MoU was witnessed by South African International Relations and Cooperation Minister Lindiwe Sisulu and French Europe and Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.