Building a pan-African space ecosystem through sounding rockets, research access, and hands‑on training.
We are developing a 100–150 km sounding rocket platform so African universities, agencies, and companies can run their own space and upper-atmosphere missions instead of relying entirely on foreign launch providers.
Africa currently depends entirely on foreign launch providers for satellite and upper-atmosphere missions, with all launches between 2018 and 2024 coming from non‑African providers. Scientists compete for a handful of slots on ESA, NASA, and ISRO missions or use radiosondes that only reach about 30–35 km, leaving the crucial 50–150 km region under‑measured for climate, weather, and ionospheric research.
Africa United Space is developing a suborbital research rocket that reaches 100–150 km and carries 10–50 kg payloads for scientific and technology missions. The platform offers rapid‑turnaround flights in weeks or months at target costs of roughly 300k–500k USD per mission, compared to 1–3M USD on typical international alternatives.
Each mission builds technical infrastructure, operational experience, and human capital inside Africa, following the same pathway countries like India, Japan, and South Korea used to move from sounding rockets to orbital launch systems. The program is intentionally structured as a capability‑building engine, increasing the share of design, fabrication, integration, and operations done by African engineers with every flight.
African universities that need real flight hardware for student training and research payloads.
National meteorological and weather services that need better upper-atmosphere data to improve regional forecasts.
Space and tech companies validating new sensors or satellite components in realistic flight environments.
Researchers and industry teams exploring microgravity applications, including pharmaceuticals and advanced materials.
The Pan‑African Sounding Rocket Program moves through four milestones: design, hardware fabrication and testing, initial flight campaigns, and finally sustained commercial operations.
By pairing African manufacturing, test facilities, and launch ranges with strategic international partners, the program transfers skills as well as turnkey systems, creating a permanent aerospace workforce and infrastructure across the continent.
If you represent a university, government agency, or company interested in payload flights, training, or partnership, let's explore how your team can join upcoming missions.
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