Beaming up a brighter future for SA

Agency to use space for the benefit of all

Sandile Malinga used to visit his only neighbour with a television set to watch Star Trek. Next week, he will introduce South Africa's new space administration to the biggest gathering of the world's space community at the International Astronautical Congress in Cape Town.

But while astronauts and rocket scientists talk about ways of getting to Mars, Malinga, newly confirmed head of the South African National Space Agency (Sansa), will be looking for ways to use space to improve mealie fields, mineral finds and maths results in rural parts of the country.

He will kick off the week-long conference of 2000 experts with an introduction of global space heavyweights, including legendary Nasa boss and astronaut Charlie Bolden, a veteran of three shuttle flights and former combat pilot.

Then, on Africa Space Day, October 3, the 44-year-old scientist will represent South Africa in a key African Space Leaders' Round Table with the heads of the continent's three other fully fledged space agencies to pursue his main goal: using high-tech science for low-tech benefits.

"Look at countries like India. They have simple things whereby they use satellites to alert subsistence fishermen where they should go to catch fish, forecasting from space where the fish are concentrated and using bulletin boards through SMS," said Malinga.

"Space can be used to improve day-to-day living. We look at things like water resources and land degradation, at how to manage grazing lands and avoid overgrazing, where to put rural schools in terms of floodlines."

He said Sansa's R150-million budget was a fraction of the cost of a single Nasa space mission, but he hopes to increase its staff from 121 to 300. In addition, he said the government was considering a stake in local satellite-making company SunSpace, which now has the Sumbandila satellite in orbit.

"There is a space race in Africa," he said. "Nigeria has got two satellites in space. We have one, and it's not doing well. But we have taken a more risky route of developing our own satellites. It might be slow, but we aim to develop a fully operational satellite which delivers for all Africans."

Malinga grew up in Dube, Soweto. His factory-worker parents sent him to boarding school in Swaziland after the 1976 student uprising.

"I really appreciate what my parents sacrificed to get me and my brother to where we are. My brother, Jabula, is a medical doctor in Johannesburg," he said. "I come from a very humble background, and Star Trek was the best it came to being exposed to space science.

"I had wanted to do electrical engineering, but couldn't do it directly. But I like a challenge and something out of the norm. I'm motivated by making a difference in life and to contribute to society by changing the lives of the poor."

Having completed a PhD in "space dynamics" at Rhodes University, Malinga is an expert in "space weather" and a remote part of the Earth's atmosphere called the mesosphere - the mysterious strip above the highest planes and below the lowest satellites.

After serving as a physics lecturer at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, he headed South Africa's space weather station in Hermanus in 2007 before Sansa was launched in 2010. Its branches include a station in Hartebeesthoek, North West, which monitors launches and space missions for other countries.

The father of three said another goal of Sansa was to inspire children to pursue maths and science education.

"Nasa have ambitious plans. Ours are more down to earth in terms of using space to benefit society. They want to go to Mars and asteroids; space exploration is not our priority," he said.

Peter Martinez, chairman of the South African Council for Space Affairs and the congress organiser, said Malinga was well placed to champion inspiration among children, having led an educational outreach campaign as head of the Hermanus Magnetic Observatory.

"He has taken the reins at a challenging time, so his leadership will set the tone for many years," said Martinez.