In January 2019, Senegal signed a memorandum of understanding with France's Montpellier University Space Center and Ariane Group. The first spinoffs expected since 2021 are finally becoming clearer.

Senegal is well on the way to putting its first satellite, GAINDESAT, into orbit. On Friday October 13, the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation (MESRI) announced that the satellite would be delivered on November 10. The launch date will then be announced by the government.

The construction of this satellite is the fruit of a partnership agreement signed with the Centre spatial universitaire de Montpellier (CSUM). The center agreed to train the Senegalese engineers and technicians who built the nanosatellite. It took them three years.

The initiative is part of the implementation of Senegal's national space program, SenSAT. It aims to make the space sector a real lever for Senegal's socio-economic development, through the design and exploitation of space tools to meet the country's needs for space products and services.

Initially scheduled for 2021, the launch of Senegal's first satellite has been postponed to 2023 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Last May, the Senegalese government announced that it was finalizing the construction of a space control center in partnership with France's Centre national d'études spatiales and Ariane Group. The center will be used to prepare the satellite for launch.

"The importance of space science and technology in supporting decision-making processes for the management of natural resources, territories and sustainable development is now widely recognized worldwide," said MESRI in a statement.

Isaac K. Kassouwi