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Namibians graduate in space science

More than ten Namibians have graduated in space science. This comes after the government signed a cooperation agreement with China in 2000 to establish a tracking, telemetry and command station in Namibia.
The two countries agreed for Namibians to be trained in China in the area of space science and technology, after which they will be employed at the Swakopmund TT&C station.
This week, at a signing of an employment agreement which will ensure employment for the graduates, the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Education, Alfred Ilukena thanked the Chinese government for the good collaboration and assistance in education as well as science and technology.
Ilukena said that Africa is poorly represented in the area of space science and technology and its applications with most African countries lacking the human, technical and financial resources to utilise in existing space-based infrastructure for even the most basic applications in meteorology, communications and natural resource management.
“It is against this background that there is a need to promote and coordinate cross-cutting multidisciplinary research and applications in space science and technology to address the development needs on the African continent,” added Ilukena.
Also speaking at the same event, Dong Weidong, director of China Space TT&C Station, who spoke through an interpreter, said the agreement will play a positive role in cultivating the space science and technology talents in Namibia.
Weidong assured the Namibian government that the Namibian technicians will be supplied with appropriate work, study and living conditions.
“We believe that through this cooperation, the Namibian technicians will be more aware of operation and management mode of the world’s advanced space TTC Station, learn and master the advanced technology of manned space engineering, and become talents of space science and technology in Namibia,” he said.
Five Namibians, composed of men only, received their Master’s Degrees, with the rest receiving certificates.

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