Story. By John Nhandara

Government says the launch of Zimbabwe’s first satellite, ZIMSAT 1 in November last year was a game changer in the management of the country’s natural resources and utilisation of space technologies.

Zimbabwe is now able to utilise space technologies in enhancing mineral exploration, monitoring environmental hazards and droughts as well as mapping of land, among other tasks, thanks to the launch of ZIMSAT 1 into orbit late last year.

Appearing on ZBC’s Current Affairs programme, Face the Nation this Tuesday, Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development Minister Professor Amon Murwira said the satellite is part of a technologically driven nation, which aims at attaining an upper middle-income society by 2030.

“We launched our satellite so that we explore our natural resources, our crops as well as our land through an eye in space. We need to map our climate systems, map our land and manage through our electromagnetic eyes from the skies. The President made it clear that Zimbabwe must join other countries in space technologies,” Professor Murwira said.

Professor Murwira said the countries’ tertiary education institutions have since started offering syllabi related to aerospace engineering and related technology, as part of the education 5.0 model.

“We now have Aerospace Engineering at the University of Zimbabwe. We have related studies at the Harare Institute of Technology at NUST and at the Chinhoyi University of Technology. We are internalising these technologies to our people. What we are emphasising with the education 5.0 model is an education system that provides capabilities to do things on our own.”

The education 5.0 model is anchored on pillars that include teaching, research, innovation and industrialisation in the creation of a human capital development society and churning out skilled graduates.