A spokesman for Kwara State University (KWASU), said its College ofEngineering and Technology has “gone quite far” with plans to develop a Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV)—but denied that this was a duplication of what the National Space Research and Development Agency
(NASRDA) is doing.

Professor Leo Daniel, Provost of the College, told The Guardian (via telephone) that he’d been briefed “two or three years ago,” on the activities of NASRDA’s Space Transport and Propulsion Centre at Epe, Lagos State—but has never visited the Centre.

“Based on the little I know, about their research at Epe,” asserted Daniel, professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics, “I can assure you that our space systems programme at KWASU is something entirely different. It will complement NASRDA’s effort; and we hope to work closely with them”.

Daniel, a former Visiting Professor at M.I.T.(Massachusetts
Institute of Technology), explained that KWASU’s ultimate objective is a space vehicle that could be launched, retrieved, refurbished and
used again: “Something like the recently retired U.S. Space Shuttle, but much simpler and on a smaller scale”.

As part of its RLV development programme, he said, Kwara State University is building a large airstrip on campus, “capable of accommodating a Boeing 737” which would be ready for use within three
years.

Daniel expressed the hope that Boeing and Lockheed Martin, both U.S. aerospace giants, would eventually become collaborators—through the good offices of the Georgia Institute of Technology (“Georgia Tech”), which has the largest aerospace engineering programme in the
U.S.A.

Said he, “KWASU has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Georgia Tech, whom we hope can pull Boeing and Lockheed in”.

The Provost noted further, that two doctoral students from KWASU are currently being trained in Aerospace Engineering at Georgia Tech and that two professors from there would be coming to Ilorin—to teach rocket propulsion and generally help lay a solid foundation for the RLV project.