An Assessment of African Economic Stakeholders Who Could Benefit from an East African Spaceport
Description of Potential New African Economic Stakeholders
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- 3.1.2Transportation Options
- 3.1.2.1O. R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa
- 3.1.2.2Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, Kenya
- 3.1.2.3Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
- 3.1.2.4Tanzania Sea Ports
- 3.1.2.6South Africa Sea Ports
- 3.1.3Transportation Beyond Africa
- 3.2Potential Human Space Flight Partners
- 3.2.1.4Mekelle University
- 3.2.1.5SCS Aerospace Group
- 3.2.2African Space Tourism Concepts
- 3.2.3Engagement of African Civilians in Spaceport and Space Launch Activity
- 3.2.3.2Increase number of African citizens employed in space activity
- 3.2.3.3African Civilian Spaceflight Experiences
3Description of Potential NewAfrican Economic Stakeholders3.1Launch Vehicle Systems3.1.1Launch Vehicle ProvidersPresently, South Africa is the only African nation with an orbital class launch vehicle in development. The South African company Marcom, located in Cramerview, a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa, is developing the Cheetah launch vehicle family [26] targeting both low Earth orbit and Geosynchronous orbit. The company states, “simply put, without independent access to space, South Africa cannot timely and effectively provide satellite services locally nor to other African countries, nor to other developing nations around the world” [46] There are several variants of the Cheetah rocket. The Cheetah 1 will be able to deliver 650 kg to a 90-degree polar orbit or 1000 kg to a 34-degree orbit. The Cheetah 2-4 incorporates an extended Cheetah-1 main stage and 2, 3, 4, or 6 strap on boosters. It can deliver 878 kg to a Sun-synchronous 800 km 98.6-degree orbit, 1620 kg to a 407 km 51.6-degree space station orbit, 1300 kg to a 200 km 90-degree orbit, and 2000 kg to a 200 km 34-degree orbit. The Cheetah 5 ties two strap on Cheetah 1 liquid boosters with a central Cheetah 2 core. Cheetah 5 will be able to deliver 2000 kg to Geosynchronous orbit. [26] 3.1.2Transportation OptionsWhile it is significant to discover an African rocket under development, it is only useful to an East African spaceport if the rocket can be transported from its point of manufacture to a launch site. Are there existing air, rail, or waterways capable of transporting rockets from Johannesburg to locations within Kenya and Tanzania? How close do these routes come to the five leading candidate spaceport locations that were identified in the initial East African Feasibility Study: Pate and Manda, both in Kenya and Pemba, Zanzibar, and Mafia, in Tanzania? [1] 3.1.2.1O. R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, South AfricaO. R. Tambo International Airport is northeast of Johannesburg, approximately 40 kilometers from Cramerview. Google Maps identifies several street and highway routes between Cramerview and the airport. Tambo Airport has existing Cargo airline routes to both Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam in Tanzania as well as to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, Kenya. [47] 3.1.2.2Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, KenyaJomo Kenyatta International Airport is located near Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. Jomo Kenyatta has flight services to over 50 countries. There are also direct flights from Jomo Kenyatta to the Manda and Malindi airports. The Manda airport services Pate, one of the candidate locations, however, Manda airport is a small civilian airport. The Malindi airport is medium sized and there are plans to expand it in order to attract direct international flights. The Malindi airport is a 135-mile drive to Manda. Pate is a short boat trip from Manda. 3.1.2.3Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam, TanzaniaThe Julius Nyerere International Airport is located near Dar es Salaam, the largest city in Tanzania. The airport has flight services to Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. Dar es Salaam is also home to one ship container terminal/sea port. 3.1.2.4Tanzania Sea PortsTanzania has seven sea ports in total. In relevance to the candidate spaceport locations, there are three sea ports located on Pemba Island, one sea port located in Zanzibar, and a ship container terminal/sea port in Dar es Salaam. The ship container terminal can be used to service the nearby sea ports located in Pemba and Zanzibar. 3.1.2.5Kenya Sea PortsKenya has two sea ports, Malindi and Lamu, also known as Pate. The Lamu sea port services both candidate spaceport locations in Kenya, Pate and Manda. 3.1.2.6South Africa Sea PortsThe Port of Durban is the largest shipping terminal in Africa. [48] Located approximately 650 km southeast of Cramerview, it is accessible via highway as well as by air via King Shaka International Airport, located 50 km to the northeast. 3.1.2.7Transportation SummaryMultiple paths exist for a Cheetah rocket to be delivered from Cramerview, South Africa to any of the five candidate East Africa spaceport sites. Some overland transportation is necessary to reach either an airport or sea port. Any number of barges or oceangoing vessels can provide transport from the Port of Durban to any of the Tanzanian or Kenyan sea ports. If traveling by air, a large aircraft such as the Antonov An-225, Myasishchev VM-T, Super Guppy, Conroy Skymonster, Boeing 747 Dreamlifter, or Airbus A300-600ST Beluga could transport the rocket from Tambo Airport to Jomo Kenyatta or Julius Nyerere Airports in Kenya and Tanzania respectively. 3.1.3Transportation Beyond AfricaA successful East African spaceport will require more launch vehicles than just the Cheetah. This implies a need to receive launch vehicles from other continents. This in turn necessitates transportation architectures for transporting non-African rockets from their nation/continent of manufacture to the Kenya/Tanzania coast line. However, these architectures must not be costly as to override any benefit of launching in Africa as opposed to launching within the country of manufacture. Transportation via air and water travel are already established in areas near the candidate spaceport locations. However, there is a need for new architecture in the form of railways to service freight trains and improved roads for large trucks. The new infrastructure will include new or improved road systems, which can support large trucks, from the two main airports to the railway pickup location, railways that span the distance to a location near the coast line of Kenya and Tanzania, and new or improved road systems from the railway drop-off location to the sea ports. 3.2Potential Human Space Flight Partners3.2.1African Nations or Companies3.2.1.1NigeriaAs discussed previously in this paper, Nigeria’s space agency NASRDA intends to send a Nigerian to space by 2030. [29] Their current plans are based on negotiating with the Chinese [29] for a flight on a Shenzhou spacecraft, but it is likely they would collaborate with other African agencies or companies should such an opportunity arise. 3.2.1.2UgandaThe nonprofit ASRP lacks both funding and technical expertise, but has no shortage of ambition. The ASRP is currently attempting to build the African Skyhawk, an aircraft to fly up to 80,000 ft in altitude as a precursor to the eventual Dynacraft, an orbital manned space vehicle. [49] The ASPR intends to supply and train its own astronauts for this eventual human space flight program. [42] 3.2.1.3MarcomThe currently conceptual Cheetah-5 has roughly comparable performance to the Antares, Delta II, and Soyuz launch vehicles. [26] [50] This performance suggests it could potentially carry the mass of a small manned space capsule to Low Earth Orbit. The vehicle has a maximum axial acceleration of 4.5 g and maximum lateral acceleration of 2.0 g. [26] The axial acceleration is well within NASA-STD-3001 limits for human spaceflight [51] but the lateral accelerations may need to be monitored or controlled via throttling to remain within limits. Lateral accelerations are within sustained acceleration limits in the +z and ±y directions, but not the –z direction so any lateral –z accelerations must be held to less than 60 seconds. [51] The Cheetah-5 payload accommodation is a usable diameter of 2.6 meters, cylindrical length of 3.4 meters, and conical length of 1.8 meters. [26] This is sufficient for the volume of a Gemini [52] capsule, or a Multi-Mission Space Exploration Vehicle (MMSEV) [53] spacecraft, or a small logistics module similar in concept to the Cygnus [54] freighter, but perhaps sharing the smaller diameter of the MMSEV. Three cargo Cheetah-5 missions could deploy a human-tended space station composed of a MMSEV-derived core and two Cygnus/MMSEV-derived stowage/research modules. A fourth Cheetah-5 launch could deliver a Gemini-derived capsule with a crew of two astronauts for a one to two-month mission. Subsequent expeditions would require only Cheetah-5/Gemini flights for crew delivery and periodic Cheetah-5/logistics flights for resupply. 3.2.1.4Mekelle UniversityAs previously discussed, Mekelle University is developing a suborbital rocket [45] that can reach a 30 km altitude. It is unlikely this rocket could be scaled up to an orbital vehicle to complement the Cheetah-5, but it is possible that an in-space variant of this rocket’s engine could be developed as an upper stage or orbital maneuvering engine to serve as a component in a human space flight architecture. 3.2.1.5SCS Aerospace GroupThe subsidiaries that make up the SCS Aerospace Group, are currently working with other companies demonstrating a track record of willingness for collaboration towards advancing the space industry of Africa. Their focus is currently Earth observing spacecraft, but they advertise a willingness to develop custom training programs [25] and could be potentially useful in helping to transform an organization such as ASRP into a technologically credible workforce. 3.2.2African Space Tourism ConceptsThe East African region is an ideal place for spacecraft launches to low inclination orbits because of its nearly equatorial location which allows rockets to travel faster relative to rockets launched from other latitudes and therefore delivering payloads to space with lower fuel consumption rates. Or conversely, it allows a greater payload capacity on an existing rocket. The Cheetah-5, for instance, can carry a slightly heavier payload when launched into a low latitude orbit from East Africa than from South Africa. This will be advantageous to any passenger-carrying spacecraft, making an East African spaceport compelling to African or non-African space tourism operators. The Cheetah-5 is arguably underpowered for an orbital tourism vehicle – it likely will max out with a two-person crew, which at best would allow for one paying customer. The Russian Soyuz has been used in such a capacity, but a higher profit margin would be achieved by flying multiple passengers. The Cheetah-5 could, however, most likely carry a 6-8-person crew in a suborbital spacecraft. This would likely be the mode of entry for indigenous African space tourism to emerge. However, the spaceport could clearly host international space tourism providers and could draw business from Virgin Galactic, Sierra Nevada, and Space X on the American side. It could arguably attract Soyuz and Shenzhou flights as well. 3.2.3Engagement of African Civilians in Spaceport and Space Launch Activity3.2.3.1Traditional Outreach EngagementIt is important for African citizens beyond those directly employed in space activities to feel some sense of connection to the space programs. This is a critical component of ensuring government support in a democratic society. A method that is well-established in America and would undoubtedly work wonders in East Africa is through the formulation of initiatives that promote contests and offers prizes to the winners. For example, one initiative is to have individuals of all ages write a fictional story that is centered on the spaceport and future launches. A panel of judges will pick the top story from each age category and feature it in major publications as well as allow the winners to read their story at a major government event. Another initiative is to have individuals of all ages create art in the form of drawings or paintings that expresses what having the spaceport built and developing a space program means to them. Each piece of art can then be combined together to make a mural that will decorate the spaceport and its facilities.
With the development of the spaceport and additional space-related activity, the opportunity may arise to increase the space-related content in science and technology universities and to create internships, work-study/co-ops, and research to build space related components to support spaceport and future rocket launch activities. Creation of working partnerships between current companies involved in the space industry, government agencies, universities, and vocational schools can establish a consistent pipeline of scientific and technological talent.
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