South Africa's space program has found a key partner in Russia, Patrick Ndlovu, board chairman of the South African National Space Agency (SANSA), told Sputnik Africa on the occasion of Cosmonautics Day celebrated on Saturday.
I must say that Russia has been the most willing to partner with South Africa on various mutually beneficial grounds to actually advance our space and mission as a nation, the expert said.
Pretoria is "confident" that its future in the space sector will be "naturally growing" through the collaboration with the Russia, said Ndlovu, who is also the CEO of Infinity Integrated Solutions.
"It's very interesting because since South Africa restarted our space programs in the 1990s, we have received most of our support from the Russian Federation," he emphasized.
At the same time, South Africa itself significantly contributes to global space efforts by leveraging its geographical location to host equipment from international space agencies and commercial satellite operators, the official noted.
"South Africa is hosting a space debris-tracking telescope from [Russia's State Corporation for Space Activities] Roscosmos, which is a major advancement on that one because it's also cementing the relationship between ourselves and Russia," he gave an example.
Ndlovu shared his insights with Sputnik Africa in the capacity as a space sector expert, and his views do not necessarily reflect the official positions of SANSA.