Ethiopia officially receives ETRSS1 from China

ADDIS ABEBA – The government of China officially handed over Ethiopian Remote Sensing Satellite-1 (ERSST-1) to the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia on 02 December 2020, Ministry of foreign affairs said.

The handover of Ethiopia’s first satellite took place in during a ceremony held under the auspices of China Academy of Space Technology in Beijing.

Ethiopia is grateful to the government of China for relentlessly supporting the country’s aspirations to see a better future with the utilization of advanced technology, said Teshome Toga, Ethiopia’s envoy in Beijing, at the ceremony.

The Vice Minister of Ecology and Environment of China Liu also made a remark commending Chinese and Ethiopian professionals who have done their level best to see the satellite project succeed and meet its objectives.

The handover occurred on a year the two governments are celebrating the 50th year of the commencement of diplomatic relationships between Ethiopia and China this year.

ETRSS-1 contributes a lot in gathering data and supporting studies conducted by Ethiopians on climate change, agriculture, forest and water resources and other related issues.

Ethiopia launched its first satellite in to space with the support of China on December 20, 2019.

Ethiopia envisages that the country’s maiden satellite, once it commences its operations, would help the East African country’s efforts to modernize its agricultural sector.

Officials say the satellite would be key in collecting all the necessary data on changes in climate and weather-related phenomena that would be utilized for the country’s key targets in agriculture, forestry as well as natural resources protection initiatives.

The satellite’s command and control center is located at the Entoto space observatory facility. East Africa’s only space observatory facility located on the 3,200-metre hills of Entoto on the outskirt of the capital Addis Abeba.