General News

The Future Points to Integrated Aerospace & Air Transportation

Published

4 years ago

March 7, 2022

Chike Onwuegbuchi

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By Andrew Aroh

Note that AERONAUTICS is the science or practice of building and flying aircraft, while AEROSPACE is the industry of building Aircrafts, Vehicles and equipment to be sent to space.

Integrated Aerospace programs includes:

Aviation safety and security
Environmental issues
Workforce education
Space & space tourism industry
Mitigating hazards of space travel

Civil Aviation work is aimed at enhancing aviation safety which is perfectly consistent with the NCAA’s regulatory charter as well as the use of faster, more fuel-efficient civil aircraft which is an appropriate job for NCAA.

WORLDWIDE, SATCOM PROFESSIONALS make connections in the most unexpected places.

Satellite services create the links that help people to do the most ordinate and sometimes the most extraordinary things.

We really are part of Fabric of life.

Therefore, space cannot remain the business only of specialist.

It needs to get down to the street level.

We need to apply spacecraft systems sensors with safety and integration expertise to transform complex ideas into tomorrow reliable systems using space tracking and surveillance systems.
We need technology that develop and integrate technologies that delivers total mission solutions:
Software that manages and controls satellites
Advanced space sensors and Radar Emagery that reveal what you need to know.
Ground based Networks and processing that transform data into knowledge and intelligence.
Highest Resolution Commercial Satellite Imagery provides;
- Imagery Intelligence
- Geospatial Mapping applications
- Visualization / Simulation functions
- Operations planning
Delivering Geospatial Intelligence is needed to create Visual Intelligence, Map accurate, high Resolution satellite imagery that are used to develop up to date maps, build modeling, simulation and mission planning tools, conduct assessment and deliver humanitarian assistance during disaster recovery and emergency management activities.
But why Radar–Based Imagery?. Signal penetrates:
Cloud
Fog
Rain
Smoke
Space Based Radar Systems provides novelty and versatility. According to design study a nine-satellite Radar system would dramatically increase the information available both to the Military forces and strategic decision makers.
The primary mission of a Space Based Radar Systems detects moving targets in Air, on the Ground or at Sea.
As envisioned, the system also would collect imagery of selected areas as needed and also provide terrain elevation data that is used to make 3-D maps for planning purposes.
Space Based Radar Satellites will be equipped with electronically steerable phased arrays that provide broad coverage and therefore will be highly responsive to last-minute requests for surveillance of a particular area.
With the Radar payload, a nine-satellite constellation would provide nearly constant surveillance of the Earth within 75 degrees of the equator with minimal gaps. It could be arranged to maximize coverage of particular area of interest.

Establishing Imaging Research Center:

We have seen the Earth observation sector gradually shift from its historic concerns with Meteorology, defense and agriculture towards newer applications such as Risk Assessment, Refugee and Population Movement, Land use and other areas.
We need to be sure that the huge amount of data coming from tomorrow’s satellites can be made useful for these applications.
The Global Monitoring for Environment and Security program started by the European Space Agency and the European Commissions has already produced some results.
With the satellites we have in orbits now and those that are on their way, there will be an overwhelming amount of data coming down that needs to be treated and analyzed.
The idea of an imaging center is to create algorithms that will extract some of the information automatically.
With the sharper resolution satellites, you change the analysis from one of area recognition to one of object recognition.

It’s a more complex environment with a wider diversity of images.
What is required is to develop ways that users can find the information they want easily.

The Imaging center facilities needs to be located at selected Universities and Research centers with equivalent of 10 full time employees, in addition to graduate students specializing in Data Mining and Image Processing.
Developing ways to digest higher-resolution imagery will be key to developing a market for the product among government and other users.

Contract services for Design and Manufacturers in Aerospace:

Design and manufacturing in Aerospace is enabled by the following:

Software: machinery; materials; components; subassemblies; electronic Robotics; Testing and contract services.

To enable Aerospace contract services requires creating Research and Technology solution organizations for Aerospace and Air Transport Industry with facilities for design and manufacture of the required spacecraft components, devices, systems, subsystems, products and solutions.

This could be engineering, research and technology services company with contracts supporting multiple federal agancies.

Its extensive team of MSc./Ph.D Scientists, engineers and professional management personnel stands to allow it to bring real-world experience to meet the growing demand for solutions to some of the most complex problems in Aeronautics, Aviation, IT managements and Earth and space sciences.

AEROSPACE & AIR TRANSPORTATIONS

As the commercial space industry has begun to grow rapidly, oversight responsibilities have grown as well.

In addition to the regular work of License and permit evaluations, the mission of commercial space Transportation with the Aviation Administration has expanded into: Federal spacecrafts Launch Ranges and commercial spaceports, and significant partnerships with both the ministry of Defense and the likes of NASRDA, (National Space Research & Development Agency).
Additionally, the new area of Commercial Human Space flight requires significant efforts to determine how safety oversight should occur.

In order to provide operational safety oversight, timely license evaluations, and near-term development of new requirements, companies need to provide engineering services to support the mission of commercial space transportation.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Position will serve as an Aerospace Engineer in the Licensing and Evaluation Division of the office of commercial space Transportation to analyze and conduct safety evaluations of space transportation.

Activities involve the Launch or reentry of expendable and reusable Launch vehicles and operation of Launch and reentry sites.

This position analyzes and evaluates Launch and range safety operations and requirements that involves the design, development, test and evaluation of flight safety and Launch vehicle systems as well as provides technical reviews and analysis submitted by an applicant seeking a Launch License or experimental permit.

Educational, Skills and Ability Requirements:

Sc in Aerospace Engineering or related field
Knowledge and experience of with deign, development, test and evaluation of spacecraft or Launch vehicle systems and subsystems such as propulsion, avionics, or electrical systems.
Knowledge of propulsion in all its form:
Gas turbine
Solid–fueled Rocket Motor
Ion Engines (Xenon-ion thruster)
Hypersonics
Nuclear
Knowledge of Launch and range safety operations and requirements.
Ability to communicate technical information to diverse audience.

Space Tourism Industry:

Since 2005, suborbital space flights have been guaranteed and in fact more than 500 people once reserved and paid deposits for the flights. But because of the great interest shown by many people, a number of companies now view it as a money-making proposition and have infact ventured into it.
Most have been proposing space vehicles that make suborbital flights peaking at an altitude of 100-160kms.
Passengers would experience three to six minutes of weightlessness, a view of twinkle-free starfield and a vista of the curved Earth below.
Note that in 2013, Virgin Galactic, completed the first rocket-powered flight of its space vehicles spaceshiptwo (SS2). The test completed by teams from scaled composite LLC (SCL) and Virgin Galactic marked the final phase of vehicle testing prior to commercial service from spaceport America in New Mexico.
Thus Virgin Galactic became the world’s first commercial spaceline and the first private space tourism company to regularly send civilians into space.
Virgin Galactic space vehicles were built in Mojave, California USA and can carry six passengers, or the equivalent scientific research payload or satellites on suborbital space flights. The space vehicles will allow an out-of-the-seat, zero-gravity experience with astounding views of the planet Earth from the black sky of space for tourist astronauts and a unique microgravity platform for researchers.
Recall that the Virgin Galactic spaceship (SpaceshipTwo, VSS Enterprise) and carrier craft or mothership (WhiteknightTwo, VMS Eve) are actually scaled-up versions of SpaceshipOne and WhiteknightOne both developed by Mojave based SCL founded by American aerospace engineer Burt Rutan.
In 2004, SpaceshipOne claimed the US $10 million Ansari X price when it became the world’s first privately developed manned spacecraft to reach 100kms in altitude twice in a period of two-week period.
SpaceshipOne completed the feat while having the equivalent of three people onboard and with no more than ten percent of the non-fuel weight of the spacecraft replaced between flights.
Development costs of SpaceshipOne estimated at US $25 million, were funded by Paul Allen, co-founded with Bill Gates of Microsoft.

Andrew Aroh is President of SSPI Nigeria

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General News

NLNG, NCDMB Boost Engineering Research with Innovation Centre

Published

22 hours ago

August 15, 2026

Chike Onwuegbuchi

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NLNG and the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) have commenced the construction of a research and innovation centre at Rivers State University, aimed at strengthening indigenous capacity in computer and electrical engineering.

The NLNG Research and Innovation Centre for Computer and Electrical Engineering (RICCEE), which was inaugurated yesterday, is the company’s largest Human Capital Development Institutional Strengthening project to date.

The centre is expected to provide specialised training, advanced research facilities and technological solutions for challenges in Nigeria’s energy and industrial sectors.

It will also house a professorial chair and operate as a research and development centre where industry-focused solutions, particularly for NLNG, can be developed and potentially commercialised.

Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony, NLNG’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Adeleye Falade, described the project as a strategic investment in the country’s future and evidence of the company’s commitment to sustainable human capital development.

Falade, who was represented by NLNG’s General Manager, External Relations and Sustainable Development, Sophia Horsfall, said the facility would improve the university’s ability to produce highly skilled professionals while ensuring that research responds to industry needs.

He said the centre would also help bridge the gap between academic knowledge and practical industry requirements by creating opportunities for researchers and professionals to work together on innovations with commercial and developmental value.

Felix Omatsola Ogbe, the Executive Secretary of NCDMB, represented by the Director, Capacity Building, Abayomi Bamidele, said the project marked an important step in advancing the Board’s Human Capital Development objectives.

According to him, the centre is part of the Board’s Institutional Strengthening Programme, which seeks to build lasting partnerships with higher institutions through infrastructure that supports teaching, research, innovation and practical skills development.

Ogbe challenged the centre to emerge as a hub for discovery, creativity and technological advancement, where students can develop innovative ideas, researchers tackle real-world problems and industry can find reliable research and development partners.

The Vice-Chancellor of Rivers State University, Prof. Isaac Zeb-Obipi, said the project aligned with the institution’s 2026–2030 strategic plan, particularly its focus on research collaboration, innovation and entrepreneurship.

“We envisage the Centre as a world-class hub where researchers and students can develop practical solutions to engineering and technological challenges, where university-industry collaboration can flourish, and where innovative ideas can be transformed into useful products, technologies and services,” he said.

The centre will occupy about 9,336 square metres within the university and include specialised laboratories for electronics and signal processing, robotics and embedded systems, software engineering, and digital forensics and cybersecurity.

The facility will also feature solar energy provisions, energy-efficient lighting and other environmentally responsible systems designed to reduce operating costs and support reliable research activities.

RICCEE is one of NCDMB’s Institutional Strengthening Projects designed to improve learning institutions through modern infrastructure, research facilities, technical equipment and training aligned with industry needs.

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General News

NITDA Seals Strategic Deals with Goose FL and Fireflies AI to Power $1 Trillion Digital Economy Vision

Published

22 hours ago

August 15, 2026

Ugo Onwuaso

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In a significant step toward expanding Nigeria’s tech footprint on the global stage, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has signed strategic Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with Canadian tech companies Goose FL and Fireflies AI.

NITDA Seals Strategic Deals with Goose FL and Fireflies AI to Power $1 Trillion Digital Economy Vision

The signings took place during the Nigeria–Canada Investment Forum and the Nigeria Investment Economic Conference in Toronto, Canada, witnessed by NITDA’s Director-General, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi.

The strategic partnership centers on three core pillars designed to accelerate the nation’s digital roadmap:

Expanding Financial Inclusion: Developing innovative technology solutions to broaden access to digital financial services and create sustainable economic opportunities for underserved communities.
Deploying Local AI Infrastructure: Establishing indigenous Artificial Intelligence infrastructure and services to strengthen Nigeria’s internal capacity to build, manage, and benefit from AI technologies locally.
Building a Stronger Digital Economy: Driving long-term economic growth through strategic global partnerships, technology transfer, innovation, and digital capacity development.

This international collaboration directly aligns with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s vision to grow Nigeria into a $1 trillion economy by 2030, anchored by innovation, digital technology, and human capital development.

By forging key global ties, NITDA continues to position Nigeria as a rising leader in the digital economy, ensuring that emerging tools like AI deliver real, tangible value for local citizens and businesses.

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General News

Anambra Seeks Digital Inclusion in Rural Communities

Published

2 days ago

August 14, 2026

Ugo Onwuaso

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Anambra State Government says it is exploring partnerships with the Federal Government and other stakeholders to extend digital connectivity to underserved rural communities across the state.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Anambra State ICT Agency, Mr Chukwuemeka Fred Agbata, disclosed this during a virtual media engagement with journalists on Thursday.

Agbata said rural connectivity remained a major challenge because telecommunications operators were often reluctant to invest heavily in communities where network deployment might not be commercially viable.

He said the state was willing to explore opportunities to leverage Federal Government infrastructure and the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) to extend connectivity to underserved communities.

“We understand what digital inclusion means because we are dealing directly with these communities,” Agbata said.

According to him, the objective is to ensure that rural residents are not excluded from the benefits of digital government and the wider digital economy simply because of where they live.

Agbata said the effort formed part of the state’s broader digital transformation agenda, which is targeting deeper digitalisation of government services and a more digitally enabled business environment by 2030.

He said the second phase of the agency’s digital transformation agenda would focus on e-governance, digital infrastructure, smart government and the use of emerging technologies to drive development.

“My core vision is that we would have digitised every single government entity in Anambra State,” he said.

The ICT boss said the digital transformation agenda would extend beyond government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to businesses and residents across the state.

He said the agency was already developing websites for government MDAs and transforming them from mere information platforms into channels for delivering government services.

“We are building websites for all the MDAs. We are also automating them to be able to carry out services and give government support and government services through their websites,” he said.

Agbata said the initiative would reduce the need for citizens to physically visit government offices to access basic services.

He said the Smart Anambra platform had already demonstrated growing demand for remote access to government services.

According to him, the platform recorded about 14,000 visits between July 9 and July 29, averaging approximately 700 visits daily, despite limited publicity.

He said the data indicated that residents were interested in accessing government services online, including applications, permits and identification-related processes.

“What the data is already showing us is that we really need to build a system that allows people to actually get government services remotely,” Agbata said.

He explained that the objective was to allow residents to initiate processes online, complete forms remotely and only visit government offices where physical presence was eventually required.

This, he said, would reduce the time and cost citizens spend travelling to Awka or other government offices to access services.

Agbata said services in areas including hospitals, schools and other government processes were being connected to Smart Anambra.

Anambra Targets 2030 for Digital Government

Agbata said the state’s 2030 target was to deepen the digitalisation of government services and create an environment where businesses could increasingly operate within the formal digital economy.

He said the agency was working with the Ministry of Commerce to promote the formalisation of businesses, particularly SMEs and businesses operating in major markets.

“One of the biggest challenges that we have is that SMEs are not formalised enough,” he said, adding that the agency was exploring partnerships to address the challenge.

The ICT agency boss said the transformation would be gradual because major government initiatives required the necessary approvals and resources.

On the possibility of making Anambra completely paperless, Agbata disclosed that the State Executive Council was already operating a paperless system.

He, however, said the entire civil service might continue to operate a combination of digital and paper-based processes for some time because of the complexity of government operations.

“What might happen is a dual situation,” he said, adding that selected MDAs could be used as pilots for deeper digital transformation.

Agbata also disclosed that the Anambra State ICT Agency had commenced the deployment of a locally trained artificial intelligence (AI) system to automate its operations and explore applications in governance, revenue management and public-sector productivity.

He explained that the agency did not develop a frontier large language model from scratch because of the huge computing and financial resources required.

Instead, he said, it adopted an open-source model, modified it and was training it for specific local use cases.

“We have started doing our own local AI system. It is an open-source system, so we didn’t build our own frontier model. We basically looked at open source and modified it, and we are training it,” Agbata said.

He said the system had already been deployed to automate the agency’s operations end-to-end.

“We have used it to automate our agency end-to-end. Everything that we do now is currently automated,” he said.

Agbata said the agency was exploring how the model could be applied across other areas of government to improve productivity, address revenue leakages and strengthen governance.

He said the AI initiative formed a major part of what he described as the agency’s “2.0” phase following his reappointment by Gov. Chukwuma Soludo.

According to him, the second phase would build on achievements in infrastructure, capacity development, e-governance and smart government while placing greater emphasis on AI and emerging technologies.

Agbata also said the state’s free public Wi-Fi initiative remained operational, stressing that the programme was introduced before the electioneering period.

“The free Wi-Fi didn’t start as a political thing, a campaign thing. It started way before the campaigns,” he said.

He explained that the strategy was adjusted during the campaigns to enable residents to follow the governor’s activities and participate in live engagements while on the move.

According to him, existing Wi-Fi locations, including facilities at the state Secretariat, remain operational, although occasional downtime occurs, particularly during periods of adverse weather.

“There are downtimes now and then because with the rains and all of that, these things have their uptime and their downtimes, but it is still very much available,” he said.

He disclosed that there were currently no plans to establish additional Wi-Fi locations, noting that existing sites were still providing services.

Agbata said the state would continue to develop digital skills and education programmes, including Smart Schools and other capacity-development initiatives.

He also called for stronger collaboration among government, technology companies, telecommunications operators, local technology manufacturers and other stakeholders to accelerate the state’s digital transformation.

He cited the procurement of about 2,000 computers supplied by indigenous technology company, Zinox, as an example of the state’s engagement with local technology providers.

Agbata said the agency would remain open to partnerships capable of supporting Anambra’s technology agenda.

He said the ultimate objective was to build an Anambra where residents and businesses could increasingly interact with government digitally, while technology becomes a central driver of economic development across the state.

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