The CEO of the South African National Space Agency (SANSA) says geopolitics don’t come into play when working with other nations on space projects.
Speaking to an in-house media channel at the 2024 International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Milan this week, Humbulani Mudau said he had no difficulties simultaneously working with agencies such as NASA, Roscosmos, and China’s National Space Administration.
“There’s no juggling,” he said. “Our national space programme looks at international strategic partnerships. For us, it is important to strengthen these partnerships. Our position is very clear – we work with everybody who will assist us in advancing our national interest.
A BRICS member nation, Mudau courted international controversy earlier this year when he said South Africa supported a Russian proposal to create a BRICS Space Council. The council would align the space-related interests of member states more closely. It would also potentially rival other multi-nation agencies, such as the European Space Agency.
This week, he shot down a question that SANSA couldn’t work effectively with the space agencies of geopolitical rivals such as the US and Russia. He said his agency works with a wide variety of rival nations from inside and outside the BRICS and BRICS Plus groups
“Our main focus is Africa because we think it has huge potential,” Mudau said. “But we have a number of initiatives and programmes with NASA – probably more than with any other nation. Our relationship with NASA goes back many years to when we supported the Apollo mission.”
South Africa and Australia also have some space links. Both countries will house still under-construction Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKA) telescopes under a co-hosting agreement.
SANSA CEO Humbulani Mudau
Pockets of space excellence
While South Africa’s space programme receives relatively little global attention, Mudau said the country had pockets of excellence. “What we need to focus on is the re-engineering of our education system,” he said. “We need educational programs that focus on STEM subjects to create an ecosystem on the African continent that builds and stimulates the space industry.”
Working as the chief space, science and technology director at South Africa’s Department of Science and Technology for 11 years before stepping into the SANSA role, Mudau said one of his immediate priorities was ensuring that the agency was at an appropriate level of readiness to manage the South Africa’s just completed USD253 million Space Infrastructure Hub.
Now in the top job for 18 months, Mudau heads the agency responsible for promoting and developing aeronautics and aerospace space research. Among other things, SANSA hosts the only Space Weather Regional Warning Centre in Africa, which operates as part of the International Space Environment Services.
“I looked at our agency capacities to see which area’s we needed to strengthen,” he said. “We have to make sure we have the right set of skills to ensure projects and project management are done properly and that we deliver our brief on time and on budget.”
Mudau is joined at the 2024 IAC by the heads of over fifty national space agencies, including Bill Nelson from NASA, Hiroshi Yamakawa from Japan’s Aerospace Exploration Agency, Josef Aschbacher from the European Space Agency, and Enrico Palermo from the Australian Space Agency.
