When the Rwanda Space Agency (RSA) was formed three years ago, not many Rwandans knew or understood, or even appreciated what it was all about. Many still do not know that it exists. Like in previous technology initiatives, some who know about it might have thought we were getting ahead of ourselves and entering a league above our weight. You cannot blame them, either. For most, space is a vast, limitless, and mysterious expanse, or even emptiness. For those with a little more knowledge; it is where the powerful send their various high-tech crafts to peer into other planets to find out whether there is life or other creatures. Or where they send other stuff to look at us and monitor all our actions and movements, and make nonsense about the notion of privacy and borders. The Rwanda Space Agency seems to have been aware of these perceptions and moved to dispel any misconceptions. On September 19, RSA started a weeklong nationwide campaign to raise awareness about its mission and role in Rwanda’s socio-economic development. The campaign preceded a conference (October 9-10) to mark World Space Week which is observed annually from October 4 to 10. In both events, the purpose was to bring the relevance of a space programme and the potential and use of space technology to ordinary people. To make us grasp this and delink it from those otherworldly adventures into space (at least for the moment), the experts sought to draw a connection to national development goals. They pointed to its use in areas with which most of us can relate. They spoke about how it would revolutionise agriculture, and help in environmental monitoring, infrastructure development, and disaster management. This is only the beginning, the experts and policy makers told us. The aim eventually is to develop a space industry and position ourselves at the forefront of space technology and applications. The key word was the application of the technology. Many of us now know that we have a space agency and probably appreciate why it was created. Of course, some only vaguely. Now, nothing helps to understand complex issues or those that appear abstract or removed from familiar reality better than concrete evidence. Demonstration of how things work or proof of what they are and can do often settles doubts and arguments. And so, perhaps the most important highlight of Space Week and proof of the practical application of space technology was the news reports of a Chinese satellite that is going to use Rwandan-developed technology to automatically assess land use and generate statistics using Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithm. According to the reports, RSA and China’s Star Vision Aerospace Limited announced the successful completion of the Algorithm Rideshare Program aboard Satellite WJ-1A. The algorithm will ‘enable the satellite to independently process images while eliminating the need for data downloads and facilitating real time land usage assessment’. It will soon be integrated into one of Star Vision’s satellites. This is going to be one more satellite in space with a Rwanda-specific application. It is in keeping with what the minister of ICT told us a year ago that by the end of 2023, we will have not two satellites but a constellation of them. The exciting bit is that this time it has a Rwandan technological input. A team of six students from the University of Rwanda and two other Kigali-based universities, Carnegie Mellon University-Africa and the African Institute of Mathematical Sciences developed the technology. This news may not be exactly earth-shattering, but it is still hugely significant. First, it shows that Rwanda is following through on its embrace of the use of artificial intelligence in finding practical solutions to national development challenges. In this instance, the land application use. Some may not know that Rwanda already has a strategy for AI and has set up a Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) Centre for its development. The ambition, as Col Francis Ngabo, CEO of RSA said at the conference is to “position Rwanda as a key player in space technology and its application” Second, Rwandan universities and their students have the capacity to design and develop advanced technological solutions to national challenges. You would not know this from the constant lament we hear that they are not up to the task. Clearly, what they need is more support and motivation, and a spirit of curiosity and inquiry among faculty and students. Third, this is further evidence of the value of international cooperation. This is, of course, all very well and we should celebrate it. However, it is one thing to develop technology and quite another to apply it. In this instance, the students have done their bit, RSA and the Chinese company have theirs. It is now up to the policy makers and officials in different sectors, such as agriculture, for example, and farmers to take it up. Will they? Farmers would benefit immensely, but for most of them, this sort of technology is only news. They still depend on their traditional knowledge or the advice of agricultural experts or extension workers. Such advice has not always been readily available. A bureaucratic mindset and lethargy make sure of that. RSA and other tech agencies might have to develop training programmes for our officials who are notoriously slow to adopt new ways of doing things, even when that would reduce their workload immensely. Technological innovations are not new in Rwanda. We often read about various applications that students and their teachers in different centres of the Rwanda Polytechnic develop. Usually, that is the last we hear of them. Perhaps this is understandable. Universities may invent or develop certain applications, but usually not the ability to manufacture and distribute them. The business community is better suited for this. Of course, they will do this if there is profit in it. Partnership between academia and industry, local and external, is therefore essential. The government will probably have to be the prime mover in such collaboration.
