Ethiopia's first satellite launched from Shanxi

China has presented an orbiting gift to Ethiopia, with the African nation's first satellite－designed and built by Chinese engineers－launched by a Chinese rocket on Friday.

The Ethiopian Remote Sensing Satellite-1, or ETRSS-1, was sent into space by a Long March 4B carrier rocket from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in Shanxi province.

Carrying a multispectral wide-field imager and other scientific devices, the 65-kilogram spacecraft is expected to work for at least two years at an altitude of around 600 kilometers to obtain multispectral remote-sensing data for Ethiopia's agriculture and water resources development, disaster prevention and relief, and climate change research, the China National Space Administration said.

The Chinese government funded the satellite's research, construction and launch, it said.

The China Academy of Space Technology, which designed and made ETRSS-1, said the agreement on the satellite program was signed by the two governments in October 2016. It said the program had become a good example of developing countries' cooperation in climate change research and would help to boost Ethiopia's economic development and space technology.

The academy said that in addition to the satellite and its ground control and application systems, the Chinese side had also offered training to Ethiopian personnel.

Getahun Mekuria, Ethiopia's minister of innovation and technology, said his country's need for the satellite had been "very urgent".

"Data obtained by this satellite will be critical and important for our country," he said. "It will be very useful in many regards like agricultural monitoring, mineral exploration, environmental monitoring and weather forecasting."

Mekuria said 20 Ethiopian engineers had been trained in China and had returned to Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, to operate the satellite's ground control station there.

Ethiopia wants to cooperate with China in other areas of space technology, including a communication satellite system, navigation and positioning satellite system and manned space missions, he said.

Cui Yufu, ETRSS-1's chief designer, said Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed had confirmed to him that the African nation would continue working with China in the development of new satellites. He said his team would help Ethiopian researchers build satellites on their own in the future.