Tunisia's first satellite to highlight country's technology

When 35-year-old Tunisian farmer Azyz Ben Mustapha looks to future, he feels a growing sense of unease.

In recent years, climate change and pests have reduced harvests in region, making life difficult for farmers like Ben Mustapha.

“Climate change is alrey visible — especially with cultivation of cereals,” he says. “Winters are getting shorter, hotter and dryer. Water shorts during summer are becoming rm.”

Ben Mustapha mans 100 hectares (250 acres) of lush green pasture in Kalaat el-Andalous, about 30 kilometers (19 miles) rth of Tunis, where he has been growing olives, cereals and livestock since 2013.

“If we could monitor production better and receive more information in vance so that we can properly man crops ... This could really help,” said Ben Mustapha.

Tunisian tech company Telnet may have solution to Ben Mustapha’s woes.

Later this year company plans to launch Tunisia’s first satellite, called Challenge One, which will improve provision of data from earth, including climate information. small satellite will be launched by a Russian Soyuz craft from Baikonur, Kazakhstan. If it is successful, Telnet plans to roll out a constellation of 30 ditional satellites over next dece.

satellite will mark Tunisia’s first venture into . African market is w worth over $7 billion annually, according to website

Telnet hopes to improve earth observation of Tunisia and create new techlogical opportunities that could assist country's agricultural production, as well as its health and maritime sectors, from tracing effects of pollution to monitoring wear.

“Today re are satellites for geo-location and navigation, communications and television. We decided to work with internet techlogy -– Internet of Things -– because it’s future,” said Telnet CEO Mohammed Frikha in an interview at company's hulking, galactic hequarters in downtown Tunis.

market for this techlogy is unlimited, said Anis Youssef, Telnet’s Research and Invation director.

“Take, for example, solar pumps in Sahara. techlogy we are developing will permit users to control solar pumps remotely, to irrigate certain areas during most useful periods of time,” he said.

Telnet has identified a diverse range of uses for satellites, from tracking livestock that cross Tunisia’s borders into Algeria or Libya, to monitoring cargo ships on Mediterranean.

“re is a multitude of functionalities and each device can offer a function that we can apt to needs to different clients and users” said Youssef, while showing AP around Telnet’s laboratories in which dozens of young engineers are at work programming different parts of satellite.

Each na-satellite in constellation will be controlled in outer from Telnet’s laboratories, he said.

Tunisia’s small, low orbit satellite is relatively inexpensive. Just a foot long and me of light, stainless steel, it’s hard to imagine it jetting off into . In comparison to a large, high altitude geo-satellite that can cost hundreds of millions of dollars, Tunisia’s na-satellite cost just over $350,000, according to Telnet.

Unlike endeavors of its African neighbors, Tunisia's satellite is almost entirely locally me.

Of African nations that have alrey launched satellites, such as Algeria, Egypt and Nigeria, most tend to buy ir satellites, rey-me, from Russia or China. While manufacturing and launch of Tunisia's satellite is supported by Telnet’s international partners, a team of Tunisian engineers have developed and built satellite’s internal programming.

“Telnet’s specificity is that we are t buying this satellite — we are making it ourselves,” said Youssef.

impending launch of satellite highlights socio-political strides Tunisia has me since Arab Spring in 2011, when Tunisians peacefully toppled dictator Ben Ali. Tunisia remains one of movement’s few bright spots, after similar uprisings in countries such as Syria and Libya led to violent civil wars.

Frikha, recently dubbed ‘Tunisia’s Elon Musk’ in journal Jeune Afrique, believes that just as Tunisia prevailed in its fight for democracy, it can also le in techlogical invation. On his desk sits a miniature rocket emblazoned with Telnet logo.

“This satellite can give Tunisians confidence that we are capable of being leers in techlogy," he said. "With a strong democracy and techlogy we can have a respected place in world, even if we only have a population of 10 million and few natural resources.”

Pavel Luzin, a political analyst who specializes in industry, said Tunisia's political progress has facilitated development of satellite.

“ democratization of Tunisia during Arab Spring has me it possible for Tunisian companies to invest in development of satellites,” he said. “Because under a dictatorship re is corruption, and corruption makes it difficult to invest in long term, techlogical projects.”