{"id":440986,"date":"2026-02-23T09:16:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T09:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/440986\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T09:16:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T09:16:08","slug":"how-china-is-building-the-hi-tech-backbone-of-africas-space-ambitions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/440986\/","title":{"rendered":"How China is building the hi-tech backbone of Africa\u2019s space ambitions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>From a satellite <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/news\/china\/diplomacy\/article\/3320537\/china-built-satellite-station-shining-example-support-namibian-space-programme?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">ground station in Namibia<\/a> to an Egyptian laboratory in orbit, China has been building the hi-tech backbone of Africa\u2019s space ambitions.Earlier this month, Beijing handed over a new satellite data ground station near Windhoek, Namibia \u2013 the latest in a growing network of <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/news\/china\/diplomacy\/article\/3242162\/how-china-ties-space-projects-africa-climate-and-security-priorities?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">space facilities<\/a> across the continent built by China or with Chinese funding.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The China-funded ground station at Windhoek\u2019s Telecom Earth Station enables Namibia to process remote-sensing data from satellites, including the China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite (CBERS-4).<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">During the February 12 handover, China\u2019s ambassador to Namibia, Zhao Weiping, described the station as Beijing\u2019s first \u201chigh-technology development assistance project\u201d in the African nation.<\/p>\n<p>He added that it \u201cvividly demonstrates China\u2019s strong commitment to <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/topics\/china-africa-relations?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">supporting African countries<\/a> in advancing science and technology development\u201d.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">He said the station would be fully owned and operated by Namibia, and Chinese experts had already trained local technicians.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From a satellite ground station in Namibia to an Egyptian laboratory in orbit, China has been building the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":440987,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[3711,160546,84063,5713,24321,891,20069,160547,35403,41003,54684,8720,90,416,160545,160548,29226,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-440986","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-africa","9":"tag-african-union","10":"tag-algeria","11":"tag-beijing","12":"tag-belt-and-road-initiative","13":"tag-china","14":"tag-egypt","15":"tag-egypt-space-city","16":"tag-ethiopia","17":"tag-jiuquan-satellite-launch-centre","18":"tag-namibia","19":"tag-nigeria","20":"tag-science","21":"tag-space","22":"tag-space-information-corridor","23":"tag-swakopmund","24":"tag-tunisia","25":"tag-uk","26":"tag-united-kingdom","27":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=440986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440986\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/440987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=440986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=440986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=440986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}