Secret SA Space Programme

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Space & Defence

Has a Russian official unintentionally exposed a secret SA space programme?

By: Keith Campbell
Published: 8 Feb 08 - 0:00

The head of Roskosmos, Russia’s civilian space agency, seems to have accidentally exposed a hitherto unknown South African military space project.

Responding to a question from a correspondent for Russia’s ITAR-TASS news agency regarding Russia’s failure to launch South Africa’s civilian Sumbandila satellite, Anatoly Perminov stated that “unfortunately, the Russian Defence Ministry refused to launch this satellite, as the South African Defence Ministry for its turn refused to use our satellite.

The two countries’ defence ministries decided to go their own way, and we did not interfere in these affairs.

Today there is no opportunity for the launch.” – Sumbandila was meant to have been launched late last year from a Russian submarine; it would have been sent in a special capsule to an integration facility at the Russian Naval Base at Murmansk in northern Russia; the Russian Navy would then have fitted the capsule and the satellite to a Shtil 2.1 rocket, taken the submarine to sea, and launched the rocket.

The key phrase is “the South African Defence Ministry ... refused to use our satellite.” What could this mean?

Firstly, it must be pointed out that the South African civilian satellite programme is run by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), not the Department of Defence. So it must be a reference to a specifically military space or space-related programme on the part of South Africa, separate from that of the DST.

Secondly, refusing to launch the South African satellite is a major decision that could only be made at high-level in the ministry; it breaks a Russian obligation to South Africa, and deeply embarrasses Roskosmos. It could even damage Russia’s reputation in the increasingly competitive international space launch market.

So the Russian Ministry of Defence must have been very annoyed with its South African counterpart. That, in turn, signals that the proposed programme, whatever it was, was a major one. This, further, suggests that it was not a mere matter of South Africa using an existing Russian military satellite, leasing capacity or buying imagery.

Rather, these scanty clues point to something on the scale of actually acquiring a military satellite from Russia – or, more precisely, seriously considering such an acquisition, including negotiations with the Russians (how else would Moscow know about project?), only to terminate the talks or cancel any agreement or deal, and doing so in a manner, or for a reason, which angered the Russian Defence Ministry.

Perminov’s phrase “the two countries’ defence ministries decided to go their own way,” signals that the South African programme was not cancelled, but rather that this country has chosen to order the space vehicle from a third country, rejecting, for whatever reason, the Russian technology.

Assuming these deductions are correct, what kind of satellite could the South African Department of Defence be seeking? Military forces employ two types of satellite – communications, and reconaissance (popularly called spy satellites), with the latter subdivided into a number of categories, notably imagery, radar, and electronics.

The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) can certainly justify either a communciations satellite or an imagery satellite. This is because of its increasingly extensive peacekeeping deployments in decidedly dangerous and remote areas of Africa.

The communications systems for UN forces can be very rudimentary and inadequate, and a national military communications satellite would give South Africa an independent and very secure communications link with troops deployed in places like Darfur. Similarly, possession of an imagery reconaissance satellite would give this country an independent source of very high resolution pictures of crisis areas and situations.

This would allow Pretoria to make critically important decisions (such as whether to join or withdraw from a UN force, or reinforce troops already deployed, or what way to vote in an UN debate) on the basis of some knowledge of what was really happening, instead of being dependent on the assertions and arguments of other countries.

It should be noted that reconaissance satellite technology is jealously guarded. It would have been a great concession to South Africa if Russia had been willing to grant this country access to even part of the latter’s capabilities in this sphere. To turn down such an offer would be a rebuff indeed.

The strength of the Russian Defence Ministry’s reaction to South Africa’s decision not to use a Russian satellite thus suggests that Pretoria is seeking to acquire a reconaissance satellite. And there are less than a handful of countries with the capability to build such a craft. Apart from Russia and the US – which would not sell a reconaissance satellite to anyone – it is basically just France and Israel.

All this, by the way, does not mean that Russia, the country, will not launch Sumbandila. Roskosmos has its own rockets and launch facilities, and is a civilian agency. Scheduling and planned orbit permitting, it could still put the South African satellite in space.
Edited by: Martin Zhuwakinyu
http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article.php?a_id=125661
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ANC spending more money we don't have?
 
http://space.skyrocket.de/index_frame.htm?http://www.skyrocket.de/space/doc_sdat/sumbandila.htm
The South African small satellite ZA-002 or Sumbandila is a low-earth-observation (LEO) satellite that can take high-resolution pictures of any area in South Africa and which enables South Africa to collaborate with other countries.

The programme, which will receive government funding of 26m, will be carried out in conjunction with the University of Stellenbosch and Sun Space & Information Systems (Pty Ltd.)

Sumbandila will carry an GSD imager with a ground resolution of 6.25m. Live downlinking of PAL video images during TT&C ground station passes will also be possible. Additional experiments are VLF measurements, an amateur radio payload, an AIS experimental payload and a vibrating string experiment.

Sumbandila was planned to be launched together with Kompass 2N on a submarine-launched Shtil-2.1 rocket, but after unresolved quarrels over a russian tracking sation on South African territory, russia refused to launch the satellite. No alternative launcher has been selected.
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I would have thaught that the Russians would only be too pleased to help us out, considering that Mr. Mbeki and Mr. Zuma amoung others were trained and educated in the old communist USSR. The ties go deep and way back. Interesting though with the level of corruption uncovered from the arms deal one has to ask the question how much has gone on behind the scenes with this space deal. No wonder Eskom doesn't have money to build new power plants.
 
Ady said:
I would have thaught that the Russians would only be too pleased to help us out, considering that Mr. Mbeki and Mr. Zuma amoung others were trained and educated in the old communist USSR. The ties go deep and way back. Interesting though with the level of corruption uncovered from the arms deal one has to ask the question how much has gone on behind the scenes with this space deal. No wonder Eskom doesn't have money to build new power plants.
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Russia is not the communist regime it once was so I'm not sure the reasoning is still valid. When the memories of friends helping to fight apartheid have faded over time, it just becomes a business transaction. And Russians are shrewd business people.
 
Surely this just means that South Africa refused to use a Russian built satellite, or am I missing the picture here?
 
wtf? Mark Shuttleworth already went to space....and he came back! If it were so kiff up there, he would have stayed there!

Sigh, just another way the Government is always trying to get SA in everywhere.
 
DJStealth said:
Surely this just means that South Africa refused to use a Russian built satellite, or am I missing the picture here?
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That's the way I read it too. Basically a misreading of the quote from the russian guy... but they managed a whole big article about it, so maybe I'm missing the picture too.
 
Sci-Tech
Mystery surrounds SA satellite
2008-2-13 21:41
Cape Town - Mystery surrounds South Africa's second satellite, dubbed SumbandilaSAT, which was meant to have been launched into orbit atop a Russian Shtil rocket fired from a submarine in the Barents Sea in December last year.

On Wednesday, the department of science and technology announced the launch of the satellite had been "postponed indefinitely" due to "administrative problems" at the Russian Federal Space Agency.

"The department is seeking a new launch partner for South Africa's low-orbiting satellite, SumbandilaSAT," it said.

However, according to a report on January 23 this year by the Russian state news agency ITAR-TASS, the Russian ministry of defence refused to sanction the launch of the satellite because of a disagreement with South Africa's own defence ministry.

The disagreement apparently involves a second Russian satellite, which the South African defence ministry did not want to use.

The ITAR-TASS report quotes the head of the Russian Federal Space Agency, Anatoliy Perminov, as saying: "Unfortunately, the Russian defence ministry refused to launch this satellite, as the South African defence ministry for its turn refused to use our satellite."

Contacted for comment, defence ministry spokesperson Sam Mkhwanazi said he could not respond immediately to questions on the issue, but would do so on Thursday.

The department of science and technology also undertook to respond to questions -- sent it by Sapa - on Thursday.

The mystery comes from the reported reference by Perminov to South Africa's defence ministry, given that the SumbandilaSAT programme is a civilian one, managed by the department of science and technology.

"Sumbandila will serve as a research tool to support, amongst other things, the monitoring and management of disasters like the extent of floods, oil spills and fires," the department said last year.

It is understood the satellite's main payload comprises a multi-spectral imager. The name Sumbandila is from Venda, and means "lead the way".

South Africa's first satellite, SunSat 1, was launched in 1999 from the United States.
http://www.24.com/news/?p=tsa&i=838950
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More detail here:
Looks like it was a 'quid pro quo' arrangement which SA didn't follow through on.
 
6m imagery. That doesn't seem so great really. Surely they should try to get better imagery from one of these satellites.

I think it would be good for SA to have though. Get a better picture of what's happening around the country and continent. But with the SANDF is such a bad state, perhaps starting at the basics in military preparedness might be a better option for now. ;)
 
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