Uganda is preparing for another major step in its space programme through a new climate-monitoring mission that will place an East African payload on the International Space Station to support flood tracking, drought monitoring and disaster response.
The payload, known as ClimCam, is a joint project involving Uganda, Kenya and Egypt under the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs-Airbus “Access to Space for All” programme.
Science and Technology minister Monica Musenero said the mission will help East Africa monitor climate conditions from space and improve response to weather-related threats.
According to the project details, ClimCam is expected to deliver about 10-metre resolution imagery and up to four orbital passes a day over Eastern Africa. Officials say the data will support agriculture, environmental management and early warning systems already in use on the ground.
The climate camera was developed through collaboration between the Egyptian Space Agency, the Kenya Space Agency and the Uganda National Space Programme.
Uganda says it sponsored four engineers for specialised training at the Egyptian Space Agency to help design and develop the camera.
The government says the project will strengthen Uganda’s technical capacity, improve environmental monitoring and support greater control over its own strategic data.
The payload will be hosted on the Airbus Bartolomeo platform attached to the European Columbus module on the ISS. It is also designed to produce AI-powered, near-real-time weather and climate data for the wider Eastern African region.
Early communication around the mission pointed to an April 8, 2026 launch aboard Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus mission on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. NASA later said the launch had shifted to no earlier than April 10 because of poor weather at Cape Canaveral. Musenero said the camera is expected to be deployed and start operations in August.
That means the mission is not simply symbolic. Uganda expects it to feed into real decisions on flooding, drought and natural resource management at a time when climate shocks are becoming more frequent across the region.
