Space
Angola
Space agency/agencies
The National Space Program Office (Gabinete de Gestão do Programa Espacial Nacional, GGPEN), established in 2013, is projected to be active until 2025.
Space program overview
It has developed a national space strategy aimed at enhancing capabilities, building space infrastructure, investing in the domestic space industry, fostering socioeconomic development, and forming partnerships with international technical and scientific organizations in the space sector. The office engages in contracts with foreign enterprises to construct and launch satellites, operates its own satellites, and collaborates with various international space agencies and industries, including those from France, Portugal, Russia, the United States, and several other African nations. It is a member of the African Space Agency as of 2025.
Key space-program milestones
2017 - The inaugural communications satellite, AngoSat-1, was constructed, launched, and managed by Russia, but it failed in 2018.
2022 - The second communications satellite, AngoSat-2, featuring a payload built in France, was integrated and launched by Russia.
2023 - The office signed the US-led Artemis Accords, which define best practices for space exploration.
2024 - A national maritime coordination and surveillance center, along with the country's first satellite mission control center, was inaugurated.
2025 - A financial agreement was reached with France for the development of the nation’s inaugural high-resolution remote sensing satellite, ANGEO-1.