A Nigerian varsity launched a Cubesat codenamed
NigeriaEdusat-1, into space from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, United
States. The Nigerian CubeSat is designed, built and owned by the Federal
University of Technology, Akure (FUTA).
The Nigerian Cubesat is a component of the Birds 1
satellites, comprising of four other CubeSats belonging to Japan, Ghana,
Mongolia and Bangladesh. They were launched from the SpaceX Falcon9 Rocket.
FUTA sought to make satellite technology popular among
members of staff and students of the University for the purpose of research,
resources and environmental management and sustainable socio-economic
development of the nation. 
The Head of Media and Protocol Unit of the University, Mr.
Adegbenro Adebanjo, said in a statement issued in Akure on Thursday 1st June,
2017 the University was poised to achieve major breakthrough with the new
technology.
FUTA sought to make satellite technology popular among
members of staff and students of the University for the purpose of research,
resources and environmental management and sustainable socio-economic
development of the nation.
"The Nigerian CubeSat was designed and built by FUTA in
collaboration with the National Space Research and Development Agency, Nigeria,
and the Kyushu Institute of Technology, Japan."
The first ever University satellite to be launched in Nigeria
has Mr. Ibukun Adebolu of FUTA's Department of Mechanical Engineering as the
representative of Nigeria on the project.
"The CubeSats would be launched and docked to the
International Space Station where the satellites would be deployed into lower
orbit during the last week of June 2017.
"The satellite technology development in
the long run shall have spillover effects on Science, Technology, Engineering
and Mathematics education that is an essential tool for a country industrial
development,'' according to the statement.
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