Leverage space technology to improve sanitation – Fred McBagonluri

The Dean of Engineering at Ashesi University, Dr. Fred McBagonluri believes Ghana’s quest to venture into space technology can help deal with the numerous problems that exist in areas such as sanitation.

Speaking to Citi News, he said government’s effort to commit resources to space science is a step in the right direction.

“Some of the technologies you would develop for space could be monitoring some of the waste disposal that we are talking about and have not been able to wrap our heads around,” Dr. McBagonluri noted.

He added that Ghanaians could have rubbish dumps with “wireless capabilities that can report to Zoomliion to come pick them or to tell the government that Zoomlion has not showed up.”

Dr. McBagonluri stressed that Ghana “should be multi-faceted in our approach to national development. I think we cannot afford to be sequential anymore.”

Gov’t lobbying for AU Space Agency HQ

His comments follow President Nana Akufo-Addo’s directive to the Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation to make a bid for the country to host the proposed African Union Space Agency.

“The African Union is in the process of setting up a space agency for the whole of Africa. This is a very ambitious and laudable project. That is why I have directed the Ministry of Environment, Science Technology and Innovation under the leadership of the world acclaimed Ghanaian scientist, Professor Frimpong Kwabena Boateng to express strongly Ghana’s readiness to host the agency and mobilize support to that end,” President Akufo-Addo said on Saturday.

The President was speaking at the 20^th graduation ceremony of the All Nations University College in Koforidua, whose students had successfully launched a satellite into space in June 2017.

The satellite, GhanaSat 1, has been embedded with low and high-resolution cameras to take pictures of Ghana and provide data that can be used to monitor the coastal areas of the country and possibly serve the sanitation needs Dr. McBagonluri suggested.

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By: Louis Bobbie Osei/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The Dean of Engineering at Ashesi University, Dr. Fred McBagonluri believes Ghana’s quest to venture into space technology can help deal with the numerous problems that exist in areas such as sanitation. Speaking to Citi News, he said government’s effort to commit resources to space science is a step in the right direction. “Some of ... Read Full Story