Space science used to be the preserve of a few high-technology countries but a growing number of African nations are developing space capabilities.
Last month, South Africa announced plans to set up a space agency and, in the semi-desert stretches of the Northern Cape, serious astronomical work is beginning at the Southern African Large Telescope (Salt).
The Government is set to concentrate all space research in a single agency. It will allow South Africa to bid more competitively for international telescopic, launch and satellite contracts.
Nigeria, Algeria, Egypt and Libya also have space agencies running earth observation systems. China was recently commissioned by Nigeria to build a communications satellite, making it the first African country with its own satellite communication capacity.
Legislation to create South Africa's Space Agency is expected next year as part of an update to the 1993 Space Affairs Act.
"It is early days, but it is likely to be an independent agency under the Department of Science and Technology," said Adi Paterson, the department's chief operations officer.
"Certainly, it will be a one-stop shop for internationally related space applications. Many countries want to work with us in space, but our capacity is spread across departments. We are working to align our interests and to ensure that an agency operates effectively from the start."
At its heart will be Salt, a hexagonal 11m telescope with 92 mirror segments, capable of recording images of distant stars, galaxies and quasars. These are a billion times too faint to be seen with the naked eye, and Salt will be able to observe events that happened up to 13.6 billion years ago.
The telescope has been built over five years, at a cost of R200 million (Pounds 16.5 million), by the Cape Town-based South African Astronomical Observatory. Test observations are under way. Salt will be inaugurated in November and its first full scientific observations will begin in mid-2006.
The telescope, scientists say, improves on the Keck telescope in Hawaii and the Hobby-Eherly Telescope in Texas.
Although nominally owned by South Africa, Salt received outside funds. Its partners include institutions in the US, Germany, Poland and New Zealand, as well as a UK Salt Consortium comprising the universities of Central Lancashire, Southampton, Nottingham, Keele, the Open University and the Armagh Observatory in Northern Ireland.