South Africa’s space exploration: an imperative tool or waste of tax money? – 702

Clement Manyathela speaks to South African National Space Agency Acting CEO, Raoul Hodges about the participation of South Africa in the exploration of space.

Many might not know about South Africas involvement with space and the space exploration despite its rich history spanning since 1958.

However, there has been a growing debate on the necessity for space exploration to begin with and whether or not so much of our annual budget should be going to something that seems so abstract in nature.

Is really any need to invest in the great beyond? Or should we just sleeping dogs float (on the moon)?

Well, according to Raoul Hodges, the Acting CEO for the South African National Space Agency, yes.

Speaking to host Clement Manyathela on The Clement Manyathela Show, the tantamount necessity for investing in space exploration is not to get a couple people floating into oblivion every now and then, but for the continued development of technology.

Space exploration helps us gather data from satellites.

Space tech helps with agriculture through helping the efficiency of farming.

It could also help monitor natural disasters such as the KZN floods that happened earlier this month through efficiency with helping those on the ground that are rescuing people.

It has the potential to help with city planning by highlighting areas which are safe or unsafe to build upon.

It helps us monitor the sun and the potential dangers it can possess.

It helps track and predict the weather.

In essence: it helps us be more efficient and so much more.

Listen to the full interview below to find out more about the country's space exploration and why it matters.

Technology drives effectiveness and efficiency at the end of the day. If you want your public service, if you want your public domain, if you want your public companies to thrive, if you want to get effective an efficient service, so use space technology for many of those attributes.

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South Africa's space exploration: an imperative tool or waste of tax money? - 702