Zimbabwe wants to build its first spaceport with Russia’s help

The African state’s space agency chief says talks are ongoing with Roscosmos

Zimbabwe is counting on Russia’s support to build a spaceport in the African country and send its first astronaut into orbit within the next decade, Painos Gweme, the director of the National Geospatial and Space Agency (ZINGSA), has announced.

In an interview published on Tuesday, Gweme told TASS that his country has begun negotiations with Russia’s national spaceflight corporation, Roscosmos, about the planned projects, including connecting Zimbabwe to Moscow’s cosmonaut training system.

“We expect that with the assistance of our Russian colleagues, we will be able to launch our own rocket into space within the next 10 years,” he said, according to the news agency.

“We hope that our first rocket will be launched from our own cosmodrome. We have already begun working on plans, selecting a location whose natural conditions would be best suited for creating a launch complex,” Gweme added.

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Several African countries have been seeking to develop satellite programs in collaboration with Roscosmos in recent years. In September, the Alliance of Sahel States, comprising Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso, announced a joint project that would see the deployment of a communication satellite and an Earth remote sensing satellite to gather space images for monitoring national borders and reinforcing security measures, among other things.

During a meeting last year with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Roscosmos chief Yury Borisov announced that Moscow had extended an offer to Algeria and Egypt to participate in the construction of an orbital station. According to Roscosmos, Algeria, Angola, Egypt, and South Africa are Russia’s key partners on the continent, with particularly productive collaboration in space.

In November, the landlocked state launched its second earth observation satellite, ZimSat-2, into orbit from Russia’s Vostochny Cosmodrome in Amur Region. The satellite, now operational in the African country’s city of Mazowe near the capital, Harare, was designed and manufactured jointly by ZINGSA and Russia’s Southwest State University. The technology is expected to boost mineral exploration and agriculture efforts by tracking crop health, yield forecasts, and nutrient deficiencies in a country where millions of people are facing hunger due to severe drought.

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Zimbabwe deployed its first satellite, ZimSat-1, into space in July 2023. It was manufactured jointly by the Kyushu Institute of Technology in Japan and Zimbabwean scientists.

The former British colony, which has been under US and EU sanctions for more than two decades, has been exploring ways to diversify its economy and tackle several challenges, including food insecurity. In June, Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa discussed his government’s intention to join BRICS with Putin in St. Petersburg, when both leaders also agreed to deepen their “excellent” ties in areas such as security, humanitarian aid, education, and trade.

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Last month, Moscow hosted the fifth meeting of the Zimbabwe-Russia Intergovernmental Commission for Trade, Economic, Scientific, and Technical Cooperation. On the sidelines of the three-day event, the Russian Foreign Ministry held talks with Zimbabwean officials, and the two sides agreed to expand bilateral cooperation in a number of areas, including trade, the economy, and politics.