Date: 27/02/2003
Source: Department of Science and Technology
Title: Ngubane: Inauguration of satellite-tracking antenna
ADDRESS BY DR BEN NGUBANE, MP, MINISTER OF ARTS, CULTURE, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, AT THE OCCASION OF THE INAUGURATION OF A NEW Ka BAND SATELLITE TRACKING ANTENNA AT THE CSIR SATELLITE APPLICATIONS CENTRE, 27 February 2003
Dr Walt Braithwaite - President: Boeing Africa
Dr Sibusiso Sibisi - President and CEO: CSIR
Mr Raoul Hodges - Acting manager: CSIR Satellite Applications Centre
Master of Ceremonies
Honoured guests
Members of the Media
Ladies and Gentlemen
It is an honour for me to welcome such a distinguished audience, which includes some of our most dynamic innovators and business leaders from top local and international firms, to this historic occasion. Indeed, the inauguration of the new Ka band satellite-tracking antenna, here at the CSIR's Satellite Applications Centre, represents a milestone in the development of our research infrastructure and in our work towards unlocking our full scientific and technological potential. The multi million-dollar investment by The Boeing Company further positions the Satellite Applications Centre and, indeed, South African Science and Technology at the cutting edge.
The partnership reflects the spirit of my Department's National Research and Development Strategy, which has as a key objective the stimulation of technology and innovation in support of accelerated economic growth and an improvement in quality of life, a better life for all. In pursuit of this objective, it is our mission to ensure that that we leverage the appropriate social and economic investment internationally, nationally and locally, that we think global and act local. We need to assess how best we can use the myriad resources at our disposal, not least of which are our SET human resources, to attract significant international investment and the forging of public-private partnerships to the benefit of all of our people. This is particularly so in the space technologies and sciences where South Africa can boast a conducive physical environment for R&D and the requisite engineering and S&T capability.
Tonight then is about celebrating these partnerships. It is about recognising The Boeing Company for its continued investment in space technologies in South Africa; it is about celebrating a world technological first on African soil and about giving credit to teams working across continents towards the singular goal of steering and utilising satellites and their resources in the no-man's land that is space. Indeed, space remains the final frontier, the vast, beautiful and mysterious immensity that holds the answers to some of our most fundamental questions.
But, for the time being, let us focus nearer to the ground, to the day-to-day situations that will benefit from this key development. I want to start from the bottom up, for space technologies are typically about practical applications. In this case, ultimately it is about Information and Communications Technologies, which the National R&D Strategy identifies as a key technology platform, and about significant strides in fulfilling the demand for bandwidth and connectivity, which is at the root of the information revolution. This, in turn, will contribute to information and communication technologies continuing to be a driver of economic growth and an essential ingredient in the fight against poverty and underdevelopment.
But, ladies and gentlemen, the Ka band satellite-tracking antenna will also benefit us in myriad other ways. In some instances, its applications will be most obvious in the field of earth observation, a key technology in the development of southern Africa and elsewhere. The challenges and potentials of earth observation are focussed on in the National R&D Strategy and were highlighted at the World Summit on Sustainable Development held in Johannesburg last year. Importantly, the NEPAD initiative to address poverty alleviation, food security and health also identifies the value of this field of endeavour.
Our belief in what this application can contribute to our country - and our continent's development - is unflinching, and we will work to ensure that relevant data to become available to all users in our region at the lowest possible prices, in some instances even free of charge. It could be the most tangible example of how space technology makes a meaningful and positive difference in the lives of people from a range of contexts.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are all aware of the particular needs of our region, and in many instances, also of our continent. The creation of wealth for our people, effective strategies in the war against disease, the harnessing and utilisation of our full potential in eradicating the scourge of poverty and its twin, underdevelopment, and the continued identification and engagement with the new opportunities and challenges of our global village.
We have thus far, I believe, successfully negotiated a path forward in ensuring that we have a standard-setting science and technology system, comparable to the best in the world, while ensuring that our policy frameworks and the realisation of our programmes and projects meet the real needs of all of our people in ways that can be measured.
It is systems such as the one that we are inaugurating today that are the building blocks we need to derive the full benefits of space technologies, regardless of whether they are used for voice and data telecommunications, tele-medicine, tele-education, navigation, earth observation or space sciences, all of which continue to stimulate the minds of young and old alike. And we cannot underestimate the importance of many of these fields in bridging the poverty gap and also in tearing down seemingly insurmountable barriers such as lack of resources and poor access to information and expertise. Tele-medicine and tele-education, for example, can transform the lives of rural communities and open up countless new choices and skills-development opportunities for them, at comparatively little cost.
Since man made that first intrepid odyssey into realms beyond our planet, many hurdles have been overcome in the business of launching and operating satellites and great scientific and technological advances have been made. A result of this has been that space operations are perceived as simple feats and not the remarkable achievements that they are. The meticulousness with which every mission or project is planned is often hugely underestimated and only when a satellite or spacecraft is lost, the risks of operating in space become startlingly clear. The tragic loss of astronauts from a number of countries aboard the American space shuttle Columbia recently, brought the reality of the risks involved home once more.
But by and large our international knowledge-base in mastering the demands of space exploration has developed enormously and rigorously takes into consideration every exigency. The partners who make up the mission or project team choose one another with due consideration of the levels of expertise; history of significant management of major international initiatives; dynamic and innovative outlook based on realistic social and economic goals and a shared enthusiasm for the task at hand. As the Minister of Science and Technology, it gives me great pride when major international companies such as Boeing entrust their satellites, as they fly over Europe, the Middle East or Africa, to our scientists. I believe that as their partner we are viewed by The Boeing Company as "Best in Class", and will be as committed to the project as if we had initiated it. There are huge risks involved in not finding that right partner. It gives me pleasure to see that South Africa, through its institutions such as the CSIR, has earned the reputation with companies such as Boeing, of having the competency, the commitment, the infrastructure, the human resources and the facilities for realising projects of such magnitude and maximising their impact. I am pleased that we have the technical depth and have proven our resolute commitment and abilities to share goals across national boundaries and with a broad range of partners.
This enormous Ka band antenna is but a link in the chain that will help the communities around the world keep up with the demand for bandwidth and connectivity. Its importance in a global operation is paramount - when the first Spaceway satellite is launched from the Sea Launch platform in the Pacific Ocean, and when that satellite transmits its first telemetry and is ready to receive its first commands from Boeing's Mission Control Centre, our ground station will be playing a vital role in the process. I believe that the antenna has passed various acceptance tests, with specifications successfully met in all cases. I offer my sincere congratulations to the teams from The Boeing Company, the CSIR and the antenna manufacturers, Vertex-RSI. I look forward to the exciting inaugural Spaceway satellite launch and wish Boeing and the CSIR support team the best of luck.
To inaugurate the world's first Ka band satellite tracking antenna on home soil, is a privilege. May the partnership between Boeing and the CSIR also result in substantial spin-off benefits in the interest of science, technology and a better life for all on the African continent.
I thank you.
Issued by the Department of Science and Technology
27 February 2003
Source: Department of Science and Technology
Title: Ngubane: Inauguration of satellite-tracking antenna
ADDRESS BY DR BEN NGUBANE, MP, MINISTER OF ARTS, CULTURE, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, AT THE OCCASION OF THE INAUGURATION OF A NEW Ka BAND SATELLITE TRACKING ANTENNA AT THE CSIR SATELLITE APPLICATIONS CENTRE, 27 February 2003
Dr Walt Braithwaite - President: Boeing Africa
Dr Sibusiso Sibisi - President and CEO: CSIR
Mr Raoul Hodges - Acting manager: CSIR Satellite Applications Centre
Master of Ceremonies
Honoured guests
Members of the Media
Ladies and Gentlemen
It is an honour for me to welcome such a distinguished audience, which includes some of our most dynamic innovators and business leaders from top local and international firms, to this historic occasion. Indeed, the inauguration of the new Ka band satellite-tracking antenna, here at the CSIR's Satellite Applications Centre, represents a milestone in the development of our research infrastructure and in our work towards unlocking our full scientific and technological potential. The multi million-dollar investment by The Boeing Company further positions the Satellite Applications Centre and, indeed, South African Science and Technology at the cutting edge.
The partnership reflects the spirit of my Department's National Research and Development Strategy, which has as a key objective the stimulation of technology and innovation in support of accelerated economic growth and an improvement in quality of life, a better life for all. In pursuit of this objective, it is our mission to ensure that that we leverage the appropriate social and economic investment internationally, nationally and locally, that we think global and act local. We need to assess how best we can use the myriad resources at our disposal, not least of which are our SET human resources, to attract significant international investment and the forging of public-private partnerships to the benefit of all of our people. This is particularly so in the space technologies and sciences where South Africa can boast a conducive physical environment for R&D and the requisite engineering and S&T capability.
Tonight then is about celebrating these partnerships. It is about recognising The Boeing Company for its continued investment in space technologies in South Africa; it is about celebrating a world technological first on African soil and about giving credit to teams working across continents towards the singular goal of steering and utilising satellites and their resources in the no-man's land that is space. Indeed, space remains the final frontier, the vast, beautiful and mysterious immensity that holds the answers to some of our most fundamental questions.
But, for the time being, let us focus nearer to the ground, to the day-to-day situations that will benefit from this key development. I want to start from the bottom up, for space technologies are typically about practical applications. In this case, ultimately it is about Information and Communications Technologies, which the National R&D Strategy identifies as a key technology platform, and about significant strides in fulfilling the demand for bandwidth and connectivity, which is at the root of the information revolution. This, in turn, will contribute to information and communication technologies continuing to be a driver of economic growth and an essential ingredient in the fight against poverty and underdevelopment.
But, ladies and gentlemen, the Ka band satellite-tracking antenna will also benefit us in myriad other ways. In some instances, its applications will be most obvious in the field of earth observation, a key technology in the development of southern Africa and elsewhere. The challenges and potentials of earth observation are focussed on in the National R&D Strategy and were highlighted at the World Summit on Sustainable Development held in Johannesburg last year. Importantly, the NEPAD initiative to address poverty alleviation, food security and health also identifies the value of this field of endeavour.
Our belief in what this application can contribute to our country - and our continent's development - is unflinching, and we will work to ensure that relevant data to become available to all users in our region at the lowest possible prices, in some instances even free of charge. It could be the most tangible example of how space technology makes a meaningful and positive difference in the lives of people from a range of contexts.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are all aware of the particular needs of our region, and in many instances, also of our continent. The creation of wealth for our people, effective strategies in the war against disease, the harnessing and utilisation of our full potential in eradicating the scourge of poverty and its twin, underdevelopment, and the continued identification and engagement with the new opportunities and challenges of our global village.
We have thus far, I believe, successfully negotiated a path forward in ensuring that we have a standard-setting science and technology system, comparable to the best in the world, while ensuring that our policy frameworks and the realisation of our programmes and projects meet the real needs of all of our people in ways that can be measured.
It is systems such as the one that we are inaugurating today that are the building blocks we need to derive the full benefits of space technologies, regardless of whether they are used for voice and data telecommunications, tele-medicine, tele-education, navigation, earth observation or space sciences, all of which continue to stimulate the minds of young and old alike. And we cannot underestimate the importance of many of these fields in bridging the poverty gap and also in tearing down seemingly insurmountable barriers such as lack of resources and poor access to information and expertise. Tele-medicine and tele-education, for example, can transform the lives of rural communities and open up countless new choices and skills-development opportunities for them, at comparatively little cost.
Since man made that first intrepid odyssey into realms beyond our planet, many hurdles have been overcome in the business of launching and operating satellites and great scientific and technological advances have been made. A result of this has been that space operations are perceived as simple feats and not the remarkable achievements that they are. The meticulousness with which every mission or project is planned is often hugely underestimated and only when a satellite or spacecraft is lost, the risks of operating in space become startlingly clear. The tragic loss of astronauts from a number of countries aboard the American space shuttle Columbia recently, brought the reality of the risks involved home once more.
But by and large our international knowledge-base in mastering the demands of space exploration has developed enormously and rigorously takes into consideration every exigency. The partners who make up the mission or project team choose one another with due consideration of the levels of expertise; history of significant management of major international initiatives; dynamic and innovative outlook based on realistic social and economic goals and a shared enthusiasm for the task at hand. As the Minister of Science and Technology, it gives me great pride when major international companies such as Boeing entrust their satellites, as they fly over Europe, the Middle East or Africa, to our scientists. I believe that as their partner we are viewed by The Boeing Company as "Best in Class", and will be as committed to the project as if we had initiated it. There are huge risks involved in not finding that right partner. It gives me pleasure to see that South Africa, through its institutions such as the CSIR, has earned the reputation with companies such as Boeing, of having the competency, the commitment, the infrastructure, the human resources and the facilities for realising projects of such magnitude and maximising their impact. I am pleased that we have the technical depth and have proven our resolute commitment and abilities to share goals across national boundaries and with a broad range of partners.
This enormous Ka band antenna is but a link in the chain that will help the communities around the world keep up with the demand for bandwidth and connectivity. Its importance in a global operation is paramount - when the first Spaceway satellite is launched from the Sea Launch platform in the Pacific Ocean, and when that satellite transmits its first telemetry and is ready to receive its first commands from Boeing's Mission Control Centre, our ground station will be playing a vital role in the process. I believe that the antenna has passed various acceptance tests, with specifications successfully met in all cases. I offer my sincere congratulations to the teams from The Boeing Company, the CSIR and the antenna manufacturers, Vertex-RSI. I look forward to the exciting inaugural Spaceway satellite launch and wish Boeing and the CSIR support team the best of luck.
To inaugurate the world's first Ka band satellite tracking antenna on home soil, is a privilege. May the partnership between Boeing and the CSIR also result in substantial spin-off benefits in the interest of science, technology and a better life for all on the African continent.
I thank you.
Issued by the Department of Science and Technology
27 February 2003
Advertisement
EMAIL THIS ARTICLE SAVE THIS ARTICLE FEEDBACK
To subscribe email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or click here
To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here
