South African StartUp Dragonfly Aerospace Launches Its First Satellite
South African StartUp Dragonfly Aerospace Launches Its First Satellite. South African aerospace startup Dragonfly Aerospace took to LinkedIn to announce that it has officially launched its first satellite called EOS SAT-1 into space. The satellite was built two teams one based in South Africa and one in Ukraine.
The post read, “We are extremely excited to announce that Dragonfly Aerospace’s first satellite, built by two teams in the RSA and Ukraine, leaves Earth today to begin its journey into space! Looking back, we cannot be more proud of this accomplishment! We want to thank everyone who contributed to the development, construction and launch of EOS SAT-1. It has been an interesting road with a few bumps along the way, but be assured this is only the beginning of great things to come!”
Dragonfly Aerospace envisions a future where its compact high-performance imaging satellites and payloads enable large imaging constellations that provide persistent views of the Earth in a wide range of spectrums giving unprecedented business intelligence and improving the lives of people around the world. Dragonfly Aerospace satellites and payloads are based on a 25-year heritage of components and design approach dating back to the first South African microsatellite, SUNSAT, launched in 1999. Members of the company’s team have worked on every microsatellite space mission since South Africa entered the space race.
The satellite will form the first of a seven-satellite constellation in low Earth orbit for customer EOS DA (EOS Data Analytics). The remaining six satellites of the constellation will be deployed over the next three years. EOS SAT will be the world’s first agriculture-focused satellite constellation, providing the agriculture and forestry industry with high-quality data to support efficient and sustainable practices.
