Klinger Tours Nigeria’s Space Research and Development Agency
Julie Klinger, Assistant Professor of International Relations at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, recently toured Nigeria’s Space Research and Development Agency including its Centre for Space Transport and Propulsion.
In 2005, Nigeria’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved a 25-year roadmap for Nigeria’s National Space Programme (Horizon 2005-2030). The major highlights of the 25-year roadmap include training a Nigerian astronaut, the capability to manufacture satellites in Nigeria by 2018, development of propulsion systems, sounding rockets and a spaceport in Nigeria by 2030, among other goals.
Klinger toured the Centre for Space Transport and Propulsion and observed an engine test as well as rocket prototype construction.
Space belongs to all, but access is not equal. Nigeria’s Space Research and Development Agency is one of fourteen space agencies in Africa working to democratize access to outer space. Last week I visited Nigeria to learn more about their important work. @BUPardeeSchool @GDPC_BU pic.twitter.com/3f9h3Ep3Wr
— J M Klinger (@Prof_Klinger) May 8, 2019
The specific goal to develop Nigeria’s capability in rocketry, propulsion system and a launch site by 2030 was assigned to the Centre for Space Transport and Propulsion (CSTP), one of the six operational centres of the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA). The Centre is strategically situated along the Lagos lagoon in Epe, within the Lagos State University Engineering campus. Aside from Nigeria, South Africa is another African country currently developing launch vehicles and propulsion systems.
CSTP conducts fundamental research and development (R&D) in space transport vehicles and propulsion system. Managed by Nigerian scientists and engineers, the goal of the program is to enable NASRDA to operate a spaceport with the capability to launch various satellites into Low Earth Orbit (LEO), Geosynchronous Equatorial Orbit (GEO), and interplanetary space by 2030.
Julie Michelle Klinger, PhD, specializes in development, environment, and security politics in Latin America and China in comparative and global perspective. Her recent book Rare Earth Frontiers: From Terrestrial Subsoils to Lunar Landscapes (Cornell University Press in Fall 2017) received the 2017 Meridian Award from the American Association of Geographers for its “unusually important contribution to advancing the art and science of geography.”