The National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) said yesterday that data from the facility observations are also useful for graduate research while services that engage Global Navigation Satellite Systems would surely benefit from the application of results from the optical imager observations.
Head of Media and Corporate Communications of the Agency, Dr. Felix Ale, described the facility as the first in the continent based on current global reports. He said that the Optical Imager was installed at the Space environment research laboratory of the Agency’s Centre for Basic Atmospheric Research.
The multimillion-naira facility was co-sponsored by the Agency’s partners in Japan. It is said to have the capability to capture the space environment up to 500 kilometres over a radial distance of 400 kilometres and can give accurate information on travelling ionospheric disturbances, gravity waves and plasma bubble among other ionospheric phenomena.
Alle said: “The first light from the installation has been recorded while interesting results that have never been captured over Nigeria and Africa as a continent are now being obtained.”
