Zimbabwe’s space ambitions took a significant leap in 2022 with the launch of its first satellite, ZimSat-1. This cube satellite was designed to monitor agricultural and mining activities, providing valuable data for land use and cover, soil fertility, and water quality assessment.

ZimSat-1 was part of the BIRDS-5 constellation, a project led by the Kyushu Institute of Technology in Japan. The satellite was equipped with a multispectral camera, an image classification tool, and transmitters and receivers for radio communication . Its primary objectives included:

Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) Monitoring: Identifying crop health, calculating soil adjusted vegetation index, and analyzing cultivated areas and leaf chlorophyll index.
Soil Fertility and Water Quality Assessment: Analyzing nitrogen/fertility levels of soil and assessing water quality of lakes or dams.
Amateur Radio Communication: Providing digital message relay services to the amateur radio community.

Although ZimSat-1’s orbit decayed, and it re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere in May 2023, the project marked a significant milestone in Zimbabwe’s space program. The Zimbabwe National Geospatial and Space Agency (ZINGSA) played a crucial role in the mission, and the experience gained will likely contribute to future space endeavors.