State-affiliated media outlets such as the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation and the Ethiopian News Agency published a news story on Facebook that Ethiopia was preparing to launch its ‘second’ satellite into orbit.
The Facebook posts by the two pages were shared half a thousand times and got close to ten thousand reactions.
However, HaqCheck investigated the claim and confirmed that Ethiopia launched its second satellite into orbit two years ago. Thus, the claim was rated False.
Ethiopia launched its first satellite into space in December 2019. The satellite is an earth observatory remote sensing satellite. The satellite named (ETRSS-1) was constructed in China and was launched from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in China.
The Ethiopian first ever satellite required more than seven million dollars, and the Chinese government covered most of the cost. It was designed to be used for weather forecast and crop monitoring.
The satellite was developed by the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST), the prime contractor, in collaboration with 21 Ethiopian scientists, trained on the project as part of the technology-transfer agreement between China and Ethiopia.
A year after launching its first-ever satellite into space, Ethiopia launched its second satellite in December 2020. The satellite named ET-Smart-RSS was launched from China’s Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site. The initial design work of the rocket was done in Ethiopia, but technical work was done in China in collaboration with Chinese experts.
The state-affiliated media organization, Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation, and the Ethiopian News Agency reported that Ethiopia was preparing to launch a second satellite into space.
However, HaqCheck investigated the information and confirmed that Ethiopia launched its second rocket into orbit back in 2020.
News reports indicate that Ethiopia has been preparing to launch a third satellite into space. The soon-to-be-launched satellite is each observatory and will have a higher image resolution than its predecessors.
HaqCheck spoke with Yeshurun Alemayehu (PhD), Deputy Director of the Ethiopian Space Science and Technology Institute (ESSTI) about the issue. He confirmed to HaqCheck that Ethiopia already launched two satellites and will launch a third soon.
Therefore HaqCheck rendered the post as False.