The Federal University of Technology, Akure, announced on Tuesday that it would on Thursday launch a satellite into space in partnership with other local and international organisations and countries.
The university said the satellite belonged to Japan, Ghana, Mongolia, Nigeria and Bangladesh, and would be launched into Space from Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, USA.
“It is the first ever university satellite to be launched in Nigeria,” a statement by the university stated. The statement reads further: “
FUTA, scientific prowess will get a big fillip on Thursday June 1st at 10.55pm (Nigerian time), when the SpaceX Falcon9 Rocket launches Birds 1 satellites, comprising 5 CubeSats belonging to Japan, Ghana, Mongolia, Nigeria and Bangladesh, into Space.
The Nigerian CubeSat, code name NigeriaEdusat-1, is designed, built and owned by FUTA, in collaboration with National Space Research and Development Agency, NASRDA, Abuja, Nigeria, and Kyushu Institute of Technology Japan.
Ibukun Adebolu of FUTA’s Department of Mechanical Engineering is the representative of Nigeria on the project. It is the first ever university satellite to be launched in Nigeria. .
The CubeSats will be launched and docked to the International Space Station where the satellites will be deployed into lower orbit during the last week of June 2017. .
The major objective of NigeriaEdusat-1 is capacity building, i. e. domesticating the satellite technology in FUTA, and making the technology a common business among staff and students of the university for the purpose of research, resources and environmental management and sustainable socio-economic development of the nation.
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