Against the odds, Ethiopia's space program shoots for the stars

Ghion Ashenafi, an electrical engineer at the observatory. Photo By Zacharias Abubeker / Agence France Presse

For the past decade, a handful of enthusiasts - including Solomon Belay, director of the observatory and a professor of astrophysics - battled with the authorities to convince them that in a country that is still one of the poorest in the world, where malnutrition is still a threat, the exploration of space is not a luxury.

Ethiopia strongman Meles Zenawi, who died in 2012, considered them to be dreamers.

"People said we were crazy," said Belay. "The attention of the government was to secure food security, not to start a space and technology programme. Our idea was contrary to that."

The space observatory is, above all, a symbol.

The $3 million center houses computer-controlled telescopes and a spectrograph, to measure wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation.

It allows the handful of astronomy and astrophysics students at the University of Addis Ababa to train onsite, rather than taking expensive trips abroad.

"Being poor is not a boundary to start this programme," Solomon said, adding that by boosting support for science, it would help develop the country.

"Engineering and sciences are important to transform our (traditional) agriculture into industry."

Rocket launch

The site here at Entoto, often hidden by clouds during the rainy season and close to the lights of Addis Ababa, struggles to compete with the world's major observatories, including the far larger Southern African Large Telescope in South Africa.