SpaceX, the company created by SA-born Elon Musk, is due to launch three South African satellites this evening. nanosat constellation will give South Africa the infrastructure to directly monitor shipping traffic in its territorial waters.
A little over an hour after launch, it is due to release the three components of the MDASat-1 constellation, made by the Cape Peninsula University of Technology .At present, South Africa depends on third-party foreign providers for AIS data. Under , the government's efforts to better economically exploit the oceans, changing that became a priority.
In 2013 CPUT produced the ZACube-1, and in 2018 ZACube-2. MDASat-1 is the first South African mini-constellation.