Tunisia has on Monday successfully launched its first homebuilt satellite, becoming the first North African country to do so.
The satellite named ‘Challenge One’ – owned by Tunisian telecom company TelNet – was launched into space onboard a Russian Soyuz-2 carrier rocket in Kazakhstan.
President Kais Saied and other top officials observed the launch which jetted off at the Baikonur Air Force Base in the Soyuz 2 spacecraft
The project has been started in 2018 by a group of young Tunisian engineers supported by Tunisian experts based abroad, including a member of the latest Perseverance Nasa mission to Mars.
“The Tunisian people are ascending to the skies, to great heights… away from their contradictions and struggles, to set off, free, everywhere,” Saied said.
Telnet Group’s Chief Executive Officer, Mohamed Frikha, also said, “It is the fruit of a whole generation of culture and knowledge as well as the work of 20 Tunisian engineers supervised by Telnet,” adding that this satellite is only the first step towards space which will be followed by others.
This satellite, designed and developed by exclusively Tunisian skills, will allow communication and data exchange in many areas including control, transport, agriculture and logistics by receiving data and sending it to suppliers around the world.
