SANSA Partners With NASA to Host Deep Space Ground Station in Matjiesfontein

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On Thursday, Cabinet announced that the South African National Space Agency (SANSA) has partnered with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to host a Deep Space Ground Station in the Western Cape.

The station will be based in Matjiesfontein and will be the fourth site connected to the network in the United States, Spain and Australia. Its function will be to assist the other sites to expand coverage and include the necessary components to support missions.

These missions include human spaceflights to the Moon, Mars and other areas in space. SANSA will be in charge of the operation, maintenance and management of the station.

Cabinet says that it welcomes this partnership as it will help develop scarce skills and research in space science and technology.