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Ethiopia launches first satellite into space with China’s assistance

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Ethiopia launches first satellite into space with China’s assistance

A Chinese Long March 4B rocket (CZ-4B) today blasted off into space carrying onboard Ethiopia’s first remote sensing satellite, ETRSS-1, at 03:21 GMT from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in China.

Before dawn on Friday, senior officials and citizens gathered at the Entoto Observatory and Research Centre just north of the capital Addis Ababa to watch a live broadcast of the satellite’s launch from a space station in China.

“This will be a foundation for our historic journey to prosperity,” Deputy Prime Minister Demeke Mekonnen said in a speech at the launch event broadcast on state television.

The satellite, named ETRSS-1, was launched from China is Ethiopia’s first satellite into space to monitor climate change and improve research in agriculture and drought preparedness.

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According to Solomon Belay, director general of the Ethiopian Space Science and Technology Institute, the satellite was designed by Chinese and Ethiopian engineers and the Chinese government paid about $6 million of the more than $7 million manufacturing costs.

“Space is food, space is job creation, a tool for technology…sovereignty, to reduce poverty, everything for Ethiopian to achieve universal and sustainable development,” he said.

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