Uganda has finally reached its dream goal and launched its first ever air space based climate monitoring camera to improve early warnings for floods, drought, and changing weather patterns across the country.
The Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr Monica Musenero, said during the launch of the National science week at the Kampala Serena Hotel.
The climate camera, dubbed ‘ClimCam’, is a joint project between Uganda, Kenya and Egypt and will be used to monitor environmental and climate conditions across the East Africa region.
The “ClimCam” project has been worked on jointly for the last three years, said Dr Musenero during the press conference on Thursday.
The camera is expected to be transported to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard a rocket before being installed on the Airbus Bartolomeo platform, where it will begin operations later this year.
According to the minister, once activated, the camera will pass over East Africa four times each day, providing time data to support climate monitoring and disaster preparedness.
The satellite camera system is expected to improve Uganda’s ability to predict extreme weather patterns and strengthen early warning systems through artificial intelligence.
“It is expected to help us to monitor flooding before it actually floods, drought as it is approaching and help us to assess agriculture, disaster response and environmental management,” Dr Musenero added.
She added that the data collected from space will complement information from Uganda’s existing ground weather stations and improve current forecasting tools.
ClimCam is designed as a regional Earth-observation mission and forms part of growing cooperation among African countries in space science and technology.
The satellite, which is controlled from Uganda’s ground station in Mpoma, Mukono District, supports weather forecasting, agricultural monitoring and disaster management.
The latest innovation signals Uganda’s intention to deepen its participation in space-based innovations as it seeks technological solutions to climate and development challenges.
Uganda is celebrating this historical milestone in its growing journey into space technology after four Ugandan engineers played a key role in developing an advanced Artificial Intelligence-powered climate camera now heading to the International Space Station and these include Gerald Kisangala also Systems Engineer from Soroti University who worked on the embedded systems architecture of the ClimCam payload, Rosemary Nalwanga also an AI & embedded systems engineer from Busitema University who focused on developing algorithms capable of analyzing environmental and imaging data captured by the payload, Zaina Kalyankolo also Optics engineer from Mbarara University who helped design and calibrate the camera’s optical subsystem to capture high-quality environmental imagery and spectral data plus Christopher Ongom also Mechatronics engineer from Kyambogo University who contributed to the mechanical and mechatronic design of the payload.
Ongom developed the mechanical housing and mounting structures that protect and stabilize the instrumentation in the space on addition to integrating electromechanical components that support the camera and sensor systems.
For Uganda, the ClimCam represents more than a scientific achievement and symbol of local talent entering the global space technology ecosystem.(By PEACOCK KAWEESA & Agencies)
