* Ghana to make space debut BY NANA AMA BROWNE KLUTSE (Ph.D) Science and technology are the pivots of every nation's development and an with an Advanced Fire Information System, which is a satellite-based fire information tool that provides near real- essential tool for rapid growth and its role cannot be over-ernphasised. It is an incontrovertible fact that no nation can develop without science and technology. The developed nations boast of several scientific inventions that have earned them the title of 'World Power'. Although only a middle-income country, Ghana's foray into the space industry has begun. Since its establishment in 2011, the founders and some external collaborators have worked hard to upgrade the Ghana Space Science and Technology Institute (GSSTI). The GSSTI is mandated to coordinate and develop space science and technology in the country. Barely a year after the upgrade concluded in 2013, it has ambitiously set a roadmap to launch an earth observation satellite into space by 2020. This satellite, when in space, will orbit within the near-equatorial region at a low inclination to allow four observations per day over Ghana and its neighbouring countries. The proposed GHANASAT-l (Source: MANSAT Gulf group) Why satellite observation? Satellite observations can assist in the search for natural resources like minerals and oil deposits, which will provide additional revenue for the government. It can also assist in locating groundwater, which can solve the water scarcity problem in the country that is worsening yearly. The newly discovered aquifer in Kenya's arid Turkana region through satellite observation reveals that the area contains enough water to meet the nation's needs for the next 70 years. Ghana can embrace such technology. Wildfires can be monitored time fire information for appropriate action. This system is widely used in South Africa. It provides fire managers with a unique tool to better manage the risk of wildfires close to high value infrastructure and property. The system can generate alerts directly to the cell phones of subscribers, thus allowing rapid response times in order to minimise the damaging effects of fires. It can also be used for such mundane activities as traffic update broadcasts by radio. However, the most exciting opportunity and the one with the most economic relevance is application within the mining sector. The raging problem of illegal mining activities in Ghana has worry. This farmland, weakening become a source of serious practice is destroying arable polluting water bodies, the ground unnecessarily and causing ground falls, not to mention millions lost in revenue to the government. This problem affects many regions of the country, including 0., 28 GHANA BUSINESS & FINANCE JANUARY 2015 po by Earth observation satellites. GRS will have some key socioeconomic benefits in terms of cost, strategy, operations and commercial applications. GRS will place the country in a leadership position in geo-information and remote sensing in West Africa, The applicative benefits are enormous. They include provision of an accurate national mapping and cadastral database, control of urban planning and development, contribution to an efficient population and housing census, the taking of forest inventory and management of their sustainability. The other uses are the establishment of a coherent land cover and/or land use programme, monitoring of maritime activities over the Ghanaian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), monitoring of offshore oil assets, improvement of security capacities for the country and fostering the development of new national applications. Looking at the earth from space will help give a better view of the various issues and problems concerning the environment and natural resources Ashanti, Western, Eastern, Central and Northern regions. Human monitoring and search for illegal miners is expensive and has not been effective over the past few years. The use of GRS satellite observation will be useful and most appropriate to monitor the geographical areas where illegal mining is taking place and identify new areas where the galamsey practitioners may be moving. Law enforcement agencies can be informed to move in and stop the illegalactivities. This will save the environment, water bodies and reserve revenue for the government. If successful, such activities can be used to tackle other worrying practices including illegal logging and cocoa smuggling. All such activities can be monitored by satellite and appropriate responses can be taken. for redress.The prospect of seeing ahead and better means seeing the challenges and opportunities for appropriate measures to be taken. _ Ground Receiving Station An important step towards complete satellite application in Ghana is the acquisition of a Ground Receiving Station (GRS). GRS is used to receive (in near real time), process and extract information from the images collected JANUARY 2015 Theplannedgroundreceivingstationfor Ghana (Source:MANSATGulfgroup) The author is the Research Scientist and Manager, Remote Sensing, GIS & Climate Centre, Ghana Space Science and Technology Institute, Ghana Atomic Energy Commission, Kwabenya, Accra; +23324498363; email: amabrowne@gmaiLcom GHANA BUSINESS & FINANCE 29