Inaugural U.S.-Africa Technical and Regulatory Space Training Meeting
December, 2025. Senior Bureau Official (SBO) in the Bureau of African Affairs Ambassador Jonathan Pratt convened today’s U.S.-Africa Technical and Regulatory Space Training Meeting, the first in a series of technical and regulatory trainings in the leadup to the NewSpace Africa Conference April 20-23, 2026 in Libreville, Gabon.
SBO Pratt conveyed that the United States aims to empower African nations to create locally owned, financially sound, and internationally-aligned space programs – not dependent, opaque, or controlled by outside actors.
This meeting represented the first step in the United States deepening space diplomacy on the African continent, now with more than 60 satellites in orbit. Representatives agreed to work more closely together to advance responsible exploration in space and collaborate transparently and openly.
Participating in the meeting were representatives from the following African space agencies: Senegal, Angola, Mauritius, Djibouti, Nigeria, Kenya, Botswana, Gabon, Ethiopia, Namibia, Rwanda, and Egypt. The meeting also included representatives from the Department of War, Department of Commerce, and the Federal Communications Commission.
Supplemental
With a total of 13 satellites each, South Africa and Egypt have the largest number of satellites in orbit in Africa, while Nigeria also launched a total of seven satellites, according to a report by Statista.
Take a look at the list of African countries with the most satellites in orbit as of August 2024:
| country | number of satellites |
| South Africa | 13 |
| Egypt | 13 |
| Nigeria | 7 |
| Algeria | 6 |
| Morocco | 3 |
Since the statistics were published, Morocco launched two more nanosatellites, bringing the total number of satellites to five.
The report also noted that 12 other African countries had satellites in space, namely Kenya, Angola, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Djibouti, Ghana, Mauritius, Senegal, Tunisia, Sudan, Uganda, and Zimbabwe.
South Africa was the first country on the continent to build and launch a satellite, called SUNSAT-1, in 1998.
