Sunsat, South Africa's first satellite

SunSpace has its origins in the SunSat satellite programme of the Stellenbosch University. Sunsat, South Africa's first satellite was developed completely by a local South African team of engineers. The team who designed and developed SunSat forms the core of SunSpace today.

The company resulted from a 1991 initiative by the Computer and Control Systems Group of the electrical and electronic engineering department of the university to establish a post-graduate research group in satellite systems. This led to the Electronic Systems Laboratory and the intake of the first students in 1992. More than 100 students, in collaboration with engineers, were involved in the development of the first major project, the SunSat satellite, and over 50 Masters and PhD degrees were awarded during that time.

In February 1999 SunSat was launched by the American space agency, NASA, and the satellite successfully operated in space, fulfilling all mission objectives.

As our commitment to long-term research and development can only be sustained by commercial application of space-based services, Sun Space Information Systems (Pty) Ltd (SunSpace in short) was incorporated by Unistel Group Holdings (Pty) Ltd, which is a company wholly owned by the university and which provides the opportunity to commercialise intellectual capital developed at the university.

SunSpace is a prime example of the role a university can play as a catalyst for economic growth