Turkey Builds Space and Missile Launch Site in Somalia

 Nanyang Technological University posted on 26 September 2025 an article titled "Somalia to Launch Satellite Launch in Partnership with Turkey."

The Turkish Space Agency is constructing a spaceport on Somalia's Indian Ocean coastline to be used for both rocket launches and the testing of long-range missile systems.  

China Funds Satellite Data Receiving Ground Station for Namibia

 The South China Morning Post published on 3 August 2025 an article titled "Beijing Builds Influence with Help for African Space Sector" by Jevans Nyabiage.

China funded and built a satellite data receiving ground station on the outskirts of Namibia's capital of Windhoek.  Together with other stations, it could provide China with continuous telemetry, tracking and command capabilities for its expanding space missions.

China has bilateral agreements with over a dozen African countries for space technology, training, and infrastructure.  African countries are increasingly partnering with China in space technology.  

Egypt Launches Satellite from China

 Spacewatch Africa published on 5 February 2024 an article titled "Egypt Launches NexSat-1 Satellite from China."

The Egyptian Space Agency launched its NexSat-1 satellite from Yangjiang in China's Guangdong province.  NexSat-1 is Egypt's first experimental satellite which it developed domestically in collaboration with Berlin Space Technologies.    

India Nears Completion of Base in Mauritius

 Indian Defence Research Wing published on 1 November 2023 an article titled "India Nears Completion of Strategic Military Base in Mauritius Amid Growing China Concerns."

India is on the verge of completing a military base on Agalega Island in Mauritius to monitor a growing PLA Navy presence in the Indian Ocean.  This has been a controversial decision for Mauritius.  

China-Egypt Satellite Cooperation

 The South China Morning Post published on 3 July 2023 an article titled "Egypt Gets China-funded Satellites in Step towards Space Industry Ambitions" by Jevans Nyabiage.  

China has provided the Egyptian Space Agency with a $74 million grant to assemble, integrate, and test satellites and $68 million for the test center.  Egypt is the first African country to receive this kind of assistance from China.  

China Launches Second Ethiopian Satellite

 Space News published on 22 December 2020 an article titled "China Launches First Long March 8 from Wenchang Spaceport" by Andrew Jones.

The Chinese rocket launched on 21 December carried five satellites.  One of them was the ET-SMART-RSS 6U nanosat designed by Ethiopian engineers in collaboration with Beijing Zhixing Space Technology Co. Ltd.  China launched Ethiopia's first nano satellite just one year ago this month.  

China to Launch Second Satellite for Ethiopia

 The East African published on 30 September 2020 an article titled "Ethiopia Readies to Launch Second Satellite, Plans for 10 More by 2035" by Tesfa-Alem Tekle.

China launched Ethiopia's first satellite in 2019.  It was designed for weather forecasting and crop monitoring.  China is scheduled to launch a second satellite in December 2020 for flood and disaster prediction.  Over the next ten years, Ethiopia plans to launch seven more satellites, including a communication satellite next year.  

China to Launch Second Ethiopian Satellite

 Space in Africa posted on 19 August 2020 an article titled "Ethiopia to Launch a Second Satellite in October with the Help of China" by Joseph Ibeh.  

China launched Ethiopia's first mini-satellite in December 2019.  It is now scheduled to launch a second satellite in October 2020 for providing remote sensing data over Ethiopia.  

China-Africa Space Cooperation

The China Africa Research Initiative at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies published in May 2020 a working paper titled "China, Africa, and the Rest: Recent Trends in Space Science, Technology, and Satellite Development" by Julie Michelle Klinger.

The paper reviews the range of bilateral and multilateral space endeavors through which African countries partner with China and several other international entities.  China's successes in providing relatively low-cost, reliable, and comprehensive satellites to African counterparts have been helpful to both sides. 

China's Financing of Ethiopia's Satellite Comes with Strings Attached

Africa Times, an independent online news service for sub-Saharan Africa, posted on 6 December 2018 an article titled "Ethiopia's Satellite Plans Come with Strings Attached" by Monica Gitau, a freelance journalist based in Kenya.

Ethiopia announced that China will finance 75 percent of a $8 million project to launch its first earth observatory satellite. The concessionary loan is tied to Chinese materials and companies. The article coincides with recent reports of concern, usually from Western sources, about Chinese-financed and constructed telecommunications projects around the world that could serve China's intelligence interests as in the alleged case of bugging the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa.

Ethiopian Remote Sensing Satellite

Spacewatch recently posted an article titled "Ethiopia to Build and Launch Remote Sensing Satellite with Chinese Help."

Ethiopian scientists and engineers are building a small earth observation satellite in cooperation with and with funding from China, which will be launched from China in 2019. It will be used to gather data on water, agriculture, climate change and the environment.