Rwanda files with ITU to acquire over 300,000 satellites

Rwanda Space Agency (RSA) has filed an acquisition request for two satellite constellations from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), namely Cinnamon-217 and Cinnamon-937 totalling 327,320 satellites. Francis Ngabo, Chief Executive of RSA, said this progress aligns with making the country a hub for the African space industry as filings are essential to register satellite frequencies and orbital slots, and to secure the possibility of future satellite launches. 

Rwanda previously depended on other countries and private companies for geospatial data before it launched its first ever satellite, ‘RwaSat-1’ in November 2019 which was built by three Rwandan engineers and a team of Japanese at Tokyo University. RwaSat-1 has antennas alongside two multi-spectral cameras onboard which communicates with deployed ground sensors and helps the government monitor water resources, natural disasters, agriculture and meteorology.