Astrofica Technologies
Pioneering a New Era of Space Technology

Everyone, at some point in their lives, aspires to touch the stars. While most people give up on their aspirations, some materialize their dreams. Embodying this vision are the Co-founders of Astrofica Technologies, Jessie Ndaba and Khalid Manjoo. Both Jessie and Khalid were driven by their aim to reach the stars from their first encounter, interning for the SumbandilaSat program, the first government satellite under the directorship of the then Department of Science and Technology (DST) in South Africa. Together, they started their journey towards becoming pioneers of a new wave in satellite programs and space science. The improvement and development of the African continent’s socio-economic and human capital scenario was just the push they needed. Consequently, in 2018, their dream was realized under the Astrofica banner, and since then, they have only progressed uphill in enhancing satellite integration with their technical competencies.

Astrofica is one of the leading satellite technology services and solutions providers focused on owning and commercializing space-borne and ground-based assets. Its end goal is not just manufacturing satellites but also resolving challenges beyond the scope of terrestrial systems. Astrofica comes with an aggregated experience of 30 years in the space sector and is an enabler of government and industrial ventures. “We are trained and certified in systems and acquisition management processes in conjunction with required concurrent engineering. Our multidisciplinary experience allows us to provide clients across technology value-chains (from space to telecommunications) with high-quality, cost-effective, and sustainable solutions. We do everything from exploration of system requirement and project feasibility analysis to integrated turnkey solutions and commercial operations,” states Khalid, CTO, Astrofica.

Backed by its core capabilities in satellite program management and systems integration, Astrofica has made it its mission to develop next-generation hyperspectral optical remote sensing and Earth observation capabilities. It creates better value, relevant, and actionable end-products derived from hyperspectral satellite data to fulfill user-specific needs while stimulating the South African Space industry by supporting indigenous and sovereign space capabilities.

When it comes to satellite technology and manufacturing, Astrofica utilizes the CubeSat program to design and build small satellites. Compared to larger satellites with higher costs in designing, manufacturing, and launching, small satellites have proven more effective. The limited budgets and simplified requirements of satellite missions, both in the government and commercial applications, make them an ideal option. Furthermore, the increasing availability of miniaturized instruments has increased the popularity of CubeSats in space science and engineering, thus making it a viable option for LEO constellations.

As one of the leading satellite technology solutions providers, Astrofica’s core skills reside in assembling, integrating, and testing satellite systems.

With its capability to acquire viable information sets from the space-based data, the company is focused on two major areas — food security and water monitoring. Food insecurity is one of the most harrowing global challenges, with the highest prevalence in Sub-Saharan Africa. This issue, coupled with climate change, only worsens the already existing food shortage. According to Astrofica’s team, it is possible to manage the negative impacts of extreme weather conditions if early trigger information is offered to decision-makers and planners. The only drawback, though, is it is next to impossible to collect, analyze, and distribute this information using on-ground systems. This is where daily satellite observations come into play to provide a plethora of environmental data, including rainfall, temperature, vegetation health, ocean productivity, agricultural productivity, and soil moisture conditions.

In addition, the South African coastlines are subjected to frequent occurrences of harmful algal blooms (HABs), also known as red tides. These can hamper the marine ecosystem as well as humans. Therefore, it is important to monitor HABs to prevent the contamination of local drinking water sources and prevent shellfish poisoning. The answer to this problem also is space-based solutions (satellites) that can provide essential information to facilitate quick decision-making around mitigation of risks, both on land and in water. Nonetheless, non-South African satellites currently form a big part of the space-based solutions for the continent, which can be expensive while not offering high-quality information in a secure way.

In contrast, Astrofica can deliver better quality, secure, and less expensive South African solutions using proven technology. In effect, the company has developed the H2OPE satellite constellation project, which is a South African-owned, controlled, and managed space-based satellite solution offering the required information, collation, and delivery services. This will provide actionable data to South African, African, and global decision-makers in the public and private sectors to manage operations and business risk. It is the first step to a state-of-the-art hyperspectral optical satellite constellation offering decision-ready data to optimize agricultural efficiency, risk assessment and management, insurance, profitability, and sustainability. It also helps monitor, manage, and intervene against the growing global phenomenon of HABs. Apart from offering situational awareness around food and water security, Astrofica’s constellation of satellites can help acquire additional multi-sector and cross-cutting datasets. Clients can retrieve information related to renewable energy supply and demand, mining applications, infrastructure planning, conservation and ecosystem monitoring and preservation, asset monitoring, and national security. The H2OPE SAT project is directly aligned with UN Sustainable Development Goals and the South African National Development Plan for vision 2030.

Astrofica is redefining the market boundaries by focusing on actionable datasets rather than the value of the data itself. The company is currently ahead of the curve with implementing hyperspectral imagery below 10m ground resolution. Its hyperspectral data cube (type of satellite) is invaluable in monitoring climatic strain on natural ecosystems and agricultural areas within the African continent and the global community. “Our focus is not just locally but across the continent because we go beyond just the raw data derived from satellites and focus on the viable, actionable information or decision data. This is important in delineating how Astrofica is positioning itself in the space sector,” adds Jessie Ndaba, CEO of Astrofica.

Astrofica is constantly striving to align itself with the evolving trends and meet user-specific needs to remain one of the uncontested leaders in the marketplace. The company will launch its first satellite from late 2022 to early 2023. This initiative will unlock datasets to make things more tangible and tune its constellation of satellites to user-specific needs. Having its own space assets gives Astrofica the advantage to resolve challenges around telecommunication and connectivity in South Africa. As the country and the continent remain largely divided in terms of the digital economy, the company is focused on leveraging mega-constellations and 5G technology to provide seamless connectivity to remote, rural communities in an affordable manner. Additionally, Astrofica’s internship program has been a beacon in enhancing technological know-how and human capital development last year. “Even though we are renowned for supplying datasets but if we do not offer appropriate training around space technology, the whole purpose of our solutions would fail to scale,” concludes Jessie.