NCA’S SATELLITE ENGINEER PUTS SOUTH SUDAN ON THE MAP OF SPACE NATIONS

 

By John A. Akec*

Juba, 1 November 2025

 

A Small Step But Giant Leap forward for South Sudan into Space Arena

An event of significance for South Sudan is that one of its own, Engineer Zamba Leon completed his master degree in Statelite Systems Engineering from Kyushu Institute of Technology (Kyutech) in Japan in August 2025. Zemba Leon did his undergraduate studies at Makerere University in Uganda where he earned a bachelor degree in Electrical Engineering.

 

Before embarking on his post graduate studies in space engineering in Japan, Leon was serving as Assistant Director at the Directorate of Spectrum, Space Division, National Communication Authority (NCA), South Sudan. As part of requirement to complete his  studies at Kyutech, Leon had to join a team of 20 international students form 15 countries. Their task was to design, test, deploy, and operate a BIRDS-X “Dragonfly” CubeSat before they end their studies. 

The key features of BIRDS-X “Dragonfly” mission included:

• Operating an amateur radio outreach using a UHF CW beacon (437.375 MHz, 20 wpm),
•  Carrying APRS payloads from Sri Lanka, Canada, and Paraguay operating on 145.825 MHz (1200 bps)
• Monitoring volcanic activity near Mount Aso, Japan, via APRS protocols,
• Carrying out in-orbit test to validate a slow-cost UHF transceiver built from commercial off-the-shelf parts.

The Dragonfly is a 2U CubeSat weighing 2 kg; with 100 mm × 100 mm cross-sectional area and  a length of 227 mm. It took 18 months to conceive, design, build, test., and successfully launch aboard SpaceX CRS-33 on 24 August 2025 and was docked at International Space Station (ISS).

 

The Dragonfly CubeSat was then released into orbit from the International Space Station (ISS) Kibo module, as announced by the Kyushu Institute of Technology (Kyutech) on the 19th September 2025. 

The satellite has been designed to operate in low Earth orbit at 410 km altitude, with a 51.6° inclination and an orbital period of 90 minutes. It has the mission lifetime of six months after which it will self-destruct by being burnout as it renters the Earth’s atmosphere. During its operational period, Dragonfly CubeSat will facilitate the operation of ammater radio, monitor volcanic activity around Mount Aso in Japan, and test a new type of low-cost Ulra High Frequency tranceiver built from inexpensive off the shelf commercial parts, exactly as stated in its mission. 

The press statement that was released by the Kyutech on 19th September 2025 proudly said: “This milestone marks the sixth generation of the BIRDS program, a flagship initiative that equips international students especially from emerging space nations with practical skills in satellite development and ground station operations.”

“BIRDS-X Dragonfly demonstrates lean satellite engineering, global collaboration, and the growing role of CubeSats in education, disaster monitoring, and inclusive access to space”, the statement added.

 A Brief History of South Sudan’s Entry into Space Nations

 

South Sudan, the youngest country in the world has been utilizing space technologies primarily satellite-based communication systems to bridge the digital divide in rural areas. Despite the absence of a local space program, the country has taken advantage of available foreign space assets to ensure access to crucial services especially digital connectivity, broadcasting services and meteorology. Prospects remain high for extending the utilization of space technologies to other vital aspects such as environmental monitoring, disaster mitigation, remote education, health etc.

 

However, in 2022, the University of Juba launched an initiative for the establishment of the Mayardit Academy for Space Sciences with prime mission of building national capacity to utilise space technologies in natural resource monitoring, agriculture, floods monitoring, weather forecasting, and disaster risk management.

 Furthermore, the National Communication Authority (NCA) established a new department for space services in 2023 and completed a strategic milestone of securing two (02) Geostationary satellite orbital slots with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). The NCA also embarked on capacity building of its staff. Engineer Zamba Leon was sponsored by NCA to study in Japan as one of very few South Sudanese ever trained to design, test, launch, and operate a statellite ground station.  The NCA also intiated in 2024 a project aimed at building a Space Engineering Laboratory under the Mayardit Academy for Space Sciences at the University of Juba. The laboratory’s primary objective will be to provide hands-on training to engineering students and fresh graduates on the development of CubeSats and miniaturized satellites. This will serve as the foundation for cultivating a skilled workforce capable of leading South Sudan's future space programs.

 The ultimate goal of this initiative is to embark on building a series of indigenous CubeSats for South Sudan some of which will feature earth observation payloads (Cameras) to demonstrate the feasibility of observing South Sudan’s territory from space for different purposes such as agriculture, natural resource exploration, disaster mitigation and security.

 With NCA graduating a Space Engineer from Japan, the long march to space-mediated future in South Sudan has kicked off in earnest.

*Professor John Apuruot Akec is Project Manager of Mayardit Academy for Space Sciences, University of Juba, South Sudan. He blogs at www.JohnAkecSouthSudan.blogspot.com and can be contacted at jakec@uoj.edu.ss.