South Africa's space programme: past and present.

ABSTRACT

This article will examine the evolution of South Africa's space programme, from its origins in the security concerns of the apartheid government to the developmental ambitions of the contemporary government. It will investigate the links between the past efforts to develop a South African role in space with the current approaches, as well as assess the changing nature of the debate over the importance of space within Africa. It focuses on the space programme's origins in the Cold War, the shift from military applications to civilian commercial concerns during the lengthy political transition, and the rationale for the contemporary revival of the space programme.

1. INTRODUCTION

The launching of a manned space flight by a developing country, the People's Republic of China in October 2004 marked both the dawn of a new century and, arguably, the beginning of a sea change in international politics. The monopoly on the sophisticated technologies needed to embark on space travel, once marked by American and Russian dominance, is gradually being challenged by a host of developed and developing countries who are demonstrating mastery of the complexities of rocket science and who are in the process of launching unmanned satellites into to orbit. Alongside China's space programme, the most ambitious plan to emerge so far, are space programmes by the likes of the European Union (EU) states, Japan, India, Brazil and South Africa. Of these, it is the South African programme--Africa's first foray into outer space--that is the least studied amongst political analysts and, for that reason alone, is worthy of closer scrutiny. (1) For some advocates, if the African continent is to achieve its oft-stated aims of rapid development, it is imperative that South Africa and other states embrace costly technologies involved in promoting their own space programme. For others, however, talk of rocketry and space programmes are merely expensive diversions from the pressing issues of development.

This article will examine the evolution of South Africa's space programme, from its roots grounded in the security concerns of the apartheid government to the contemporary developmental ambitions of its democratic heir. It will investigate the links between the past efforts to carve out a South African role in space with the current approaches, as well as assess the changing nature of the debate over the importance of space within Africa.

2. SPACE, THE COLD WAR AND SOUTHERN AFRICA

To understand the development of South Africa's initial push towards instituting its own space programme, it must be placed in the context of the Cold War politics of Southern Africa. South Africa, an ally of the West in the earliest part of the Cold War, was increasingly shunned by Western governments after the Sharpeville massacre in 1960. Its segregationist apartheid policies, coupled to the rise in an anti-apartheid movement amongst the majority black population centred on the African National Congress (ANC), earned South Africa the opprobrium of much of the international community at the same time that its economic potential attracted significant foreign interest.

The South African space programme developed in the shadow of these events. The founding of a satellite tracking facility, established near Johannesburg in 1958 with a more permanent facility built in Hartebeesthoek in 1961, was funded by the United States (US) space agency, National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA), and manned by South Africans. The Deep Space Implementation Facility (now called the Satellite Application Centre) participated in most of the seminal US space activities including tracking and communication with the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions. These initial capabilities, strongly supported by the West and framed within the context of friendly relations, were soon eclipsed by broader political trends in South Africa and the wider region.

Having traditionally relied on Britain, and increasingly after World War II the US, for its security and intelligence gathering needs, the refusal of the Labour Party government to renew the Simonstown…