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Jevans Nyabiage

From a satellite ground station in Namibia to an Egyptian laboratory in orbit, China has been building the hi-tech backbone of Africa’s space ambitions.
Earlier this month, Beijing handed over a new satellite data ground station near Windhoek, Namibia – the latest in a growing network of space facilities across the continent built by China or with Chinese funding.
The China-funded ground station at Windhoek’s Telecom Earth Station enables Namibia to process remote-sensing data from satellites, including the China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite (CBERS-4).
During the February 12 handover, China’s ambassador to Namibia, Zhao Weiping, described the station as Beijing’s first “high-technology development assistance project” in the African nation.
He added that it “vividly demonstrates China’s strong commitment to supporting African countries in advancing science and technology development”.
He said the station would be fully owned and operated by Namibia, and Chinese experts had already trained local technicians.
China also has a space tracking station in Swakopmund, Namibia. It opened in 2001 to support China’s manned space missions and is managed by the Xian Satellite Control Centre under the People’s Liberation Army.
Bulelani Jili, an assistant professor at Georgetown University in Washington, said Beijing’s strategy was about “strategic presence and technical lock-in”, as ground stations, data-receiving facilities and navigation infrastructure – often compatible with China’s BeiDou satellite navigation system – created technical dependence.
Consequently, he said, China could “become the default partner for maintenance, upgrades, training and bandwidth, making alternatives operationally and financially costly”.
He noted that “gifting” space infrastructure was a form of soft power.
“By delivering visible symbols of partnership, such projects generate political capital while embedding long-term ties with defence, telecommunications and science ministries,” Jili said.


China’s role is most evident in North Africa. Last month, Algeria launched the Alsat-3A and Alsat-3B satellites from China’s Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre.
Deployed 15 days apart, the satellites allow the government to monitor oil infrastructure, improve agricultural yields and manage disasters.
The launch was part of a 2023 contract with the China Great Wall Industry Corporation, which included ground control systems and local technical training.
But Beijing’s partnership is most advanced in Egypt, where its investment in Egypt Space City – a satellite technology, research and production facility in Cairo – has created a regional manufacturing hub.
In December, Egypt launched the Space Plasma Nanosatellite Experiment (SPNEX) mission, a space laboratory for monitoring climate change and space weather.
It was launched on a Chinese Lijian-1 Y11 rocket and assembled and tested at the Chinese-funded Satellite Assembly, Integration and Test Centre in Egypt Space City.
Egypt’s infrastructure now serves as the heart of the African Union’s African Space Agency.
Mustapha Iderawumi, a senior analyst at the Lagos-based consultancy Space in Africa, said this cooperation aligned with China’s Space Information Corridor – a global satellite network under the Belt and Road Initiative.
He said that projects in Namibia, Egypt, Nigeria and Ethiopia reflected Beijing’s position as a long-term partner in the continent’s space development.
Iderawumi explained that these projects served as technical and political footholds while expanding China’s global space infrastructure footprint. By tracking multiple Chinese satellites, the African facilities also allow host countries to access Beijing’s satellite data.
In Ethiopia, Beijing built and funded the ground station for the Entoto Observatory and Research Centre, while in Abuja, Nigeria, it built the control station for the NigComSat-1R satellite.
Meanwhile, Tunisia hosts the first overseas BeiDou Navigation Satellite System centre, providing positioning services across the region as a competitor to America’s Global Positioning System (GPS).
Julie Klinger, an associate professor in the geography and spatial sciences department at the University of Delaware, said that space power depended on terrestrial systems – ground stations, data pipelines and industrial capacity.
“These investments help institutionalise relationships that persist well beyond a single mission,” Klinger said.
Klinger noted that these facilities normalised Chinese technical standards and platforms.
She cited the Tunis-based BeiDou centre as a model for expanding adoption of the Chinese navigation system through professional training, joint research and pilot projects in fields such as agriculture and maritime monitoring.
Other global powers have also contributed to African space programmes. The European Union partners with the continent through the GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) and Africa initiative, while Italy maintains a presence via the Luigi Broglio Space Centre in Kenya.
The United States provides essential Earth observation data to African countries through the Servir Global Collaborative.
Although Western nations lead in high-end technology and private innovation, China dominates the construction of space infrastructure in Africa. Through its Space Information Corridor, Beijing has established a permanent ground presence that rivals have yet to match.
Klinger explained that gifting infrastructure was a diplomatic tool because it involved “more than just talk”, particularly when linked to data for development priorities such as agriculture, flood mapping and climate monitoring.
This created long-term ties regarding who “controls pipelines, formats, analytics, storage”, she added.
Iderawumi identified Africa as a growth market for Chinese satellite platforms and BeiDou-based navigation. He said this bond was strengthened by China’s expansion of Fengyun meteorological satellite services to over 30 countries, allowing Beijing to scale its space economy internationally.
He added that China offered comprehensive “end-to-end” solutions encompassing satellite design, launch services, ground station construction and technical training, often at lower costs and with more flexible financing than Western counterparts.


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Beijing has funded a new satellite data ground station near Windhoek, Namibia – the latest in a growing network of space facilities across Africa built with help from China. Photo: Handout via Xinhua

Why China is being urged to integrate commercial space tech with military systems

National University of Defence Technology researchers have called for a “military-civil collaborative” satellite application system to boost the resilience and flexibility of China’s space architecture. Photo: Xinhua

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South African exports to China include fruit, grains, wine, rooibos tea and minerals. Photo: China News Service via Getty Images

Chinese ambassador Wu Peng and South African Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen in the town of Franschhoek on Wednesday with plums destined for China. It was the first shipment of stone fruit to be exported to the Asian nation under an agreement signed in October. Photo: Handout

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Yang Liwei emerges from the Shenzhou-5 re-entry capsule in October 2003. Photo: Handout

Yang Liwei is now a deputy chief designer for China’s crewed space programme. Photo: CCTV

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Analysts say Beijing is gifting space infrastructure as a form of soft power on the continent


Analysts say Beijing is gifting space infrastructure as a form of soft power on the continent.


How China is building the hi-tech backbone of Africa’s space ambitions

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Analysts say Beijing is gifting space infrastructure as a form of soft power on the continent

Analysts say Beijing is gifting space infrastructure as a form of soft power on the continent