Space: Senegal announces the launch of a second satellite this year

Senegal intends to strengthen its spatial sovereignty by launching a second satellite, Gaindesat-1b in 2026. The announcement was made last Thursday by Professor Gayane Faye, coordinator of the Senegal Satellite (Sensat) project during the 2025-2026 academic year, from the Center for Advanced Defense and Security Studies (Cheds).

Senegal’s space policy could find itself with a new star in space. On Thursday January 15, 2026, on the occasion of the start of the academic year of the Center for Advanced Defense and Security Studies (Cheds), Professor Gayane Faye, coordinator of Sensat, revealed that our country will put a new satellite, GaindeSat-1B, into orbit in 2026. This announcement was made during the conference on the theme: Senegal’s space policy, issues and perspectives. According to the director of the applied remote sensing laboratory (Lta) at Ucad, the new tool will help strengthen our sovereignty in the space domain. “We will put a new satellite (GaindeSat-1b) into orbit in 2026 to strengthen our independence.

In an ultra-competitive world, we must give ourselves the means to acquire our own tools capable of producing spatial data,” says the teacher-researcher. This new satellite, assures the academic, will join the first put into orbit in August 2024, with the ambition of strengthening the sovereignty and national security of the country in terms of information and collection of satellite data. “It is impossible to have territorial sovereignty without informational sovereignty. We cannot talk about defense without referring to space and access to city and border surveillance technologies,” he declares. According to Mr. Faye, space has also become an issue of economic growth for all countries in the world. He adds that many professions and other activities arising from the spin-offs of space are now vital to the modern economy. “Today, areas like satellite telecommunications, earth observation and geolocation are essential to make the real economy work.

According to several studies, one billion FCfa invested in space can generate 70 billion FCfa for the real economy. Space is thus a major provider of jobs by making it possible to operate an economic ecosystem,” he declares. Mr. Faye also indicates that challenges related to economic sovereignty can be addressed with the help of satellite data. “The pillars of our economy are based on fishing, mining, agriculture and livestock. Additionally, with features like GPS, one can track livestock at any time. Satellites allow us to monitor our coasts and mining areas to guarantee their sustainability,” he maintains. “The various data from satellites can also be used to combat fishing and illegal mining. They also make it possible to better study natural disasters such as floods, land degradation and coastal erosion,” he concludes.

The first Senegalese Gaindesat-1a satellite was successfully launched in August 2024, from the American base in Vandenberg. Of the 1U CubeSat type, it is dedicated to the collection of environmental data and imaging, applications considered strategic for the management of natural resources, territorial monitoring and climate observation.

Mamadou Makhfouse NGOM