非洲空间博览会（ASPEX）上周在科特迪瓦阿克拉闭幕，它的定位并非展示火箭和宇航员。主办方转而将其打造为一个空间应用市场，涵盖粮食安全、气候韧性、领土监测、互联互通和海上安全等领域，汇聚初创企业、项目实验室和投资者，推动创意从示范走向实际部署。
The Africa Space Expo (ASPEX), which closed in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, last week, was not designed as a showcase for rockets and astronauts. Organisers presented it instead as a marketplace for space applications in food security, climate resilience, territorial monitoring, connectivity and maritime security, bringing start-ups, project labs and investors together to move ideas from demonstration to deployment.
此次活动还促成了多项具体协议。科特迪瓦签署《阿耳忒弥斯协定》，成为该太空探索与开发协定的第75个签署方；安哥拉则与阿拉伯联合酋长国签署了太空合作意向书。
The event also produced several concrete agreements. The Ivory Coast signed the Artemis Accords, becoming the 75th signatory of the agreement on space exploration and development, while Angola signed a letter of intent on space cooperation with the United Arab Emirates.
然而，除了这些协议，博览会还凸显出一个越来越难以回避的问题：非洲能否从使用空间技术迈向自主开发更多空间技术？加纳清楚地体现了其中的进展与差距。
But beyond the agreements, the expo highlighted a question that is becoming harder to avoid: Can Africa move from using space technology to building more of it itself? Ghana offers a clear illustration of both the progress and the gap.
加纳在空间科学和核科学方面的抱负可追溯至独立初期。1961年，总统夸梅·恩克鲁玛领导的政府启动了一个核反应堆项目。两年后，政府通过一项议会法案设立加纳原子能委员会，其职权涵盖核能的和平利用。
Ghana’s ambitions in space and nuclear science date back to its early years of independence. In 1961, President Kwame Nkrumah’s government initiated a nuclear reactor project in Accra. Two years later, the government established the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission through an act of Parliament with a mandate covering the peaceful applications of nuclear energy.
1966年恩克鲁玛被推翻后，核反应堆项目被搁置，但他协助建立的机构如今仍是加纳空间科学与技术研究所（GSSTI）的上级机构。加纳空间科学与技术研究所（GSSTI）主任“加纳是通过与南非的合作成为该项目的合作伙伴的，”他告诉半岛电视台（Al Jazeera）。“通过这个项目，我们成功地将位于昆图恩塞（Kuntunse）的旧卫星天线改造成了射电望远镜。”
The reactor project was shelved after Nkrumah was overthrown in 1966, but the institution he helped establish remains the parent body of the Ghana Space Science and Technology Institute (GSSTI). Joseph Tandoh, director of the GSSTI, traces Ghana’s more recent space programme to a partnership with South Africa. “Ghana became a partner through South Africa,” he told Al Jazeera. “Through that project, we were able to reconstruct the old satellite antenna at Kuntunse into a radio telescope.”
通过与南非在射电天文学领域的合作，加纳将那座闲置的32米（105英尺）天线改造成了可正常使用的射电望远镜。加纳成为南非参与的‘非洲平方公里阵列’（Square Kilometre Array）项目中的第一个完成设备改造的非洲国家，该望远镜于2017年8月正式投入使用。
Through its partnership with South Africa on radio astronomy, Ghana converted a redundant 32-metre (105ft) antenna at Kuntunse into a functioning radio telescope. Ghana became the first of South Africa’s eight African Square Kilometre Array partner countries to complete the conversion, and the telescope was launched in August 2017.
加纳的国家太空政策于2022年获得内阁批准，并于2024年正式实施。政府还在2025年批准成立了加纳太空局（Ghana Space Agency），标志着该国致力于发展太空产业的专门机构的建立进程正式启动。
Ghana’s National Space Policy was approved by the cabinet in 2022 and launched in 2024. The government approved the establishment of a Ghana Space Agency in 2025, beginning the process of creating a dedicated national institution for the sector. The institutional framework is taking shape.
虽然加纳的太空产业基础设施正在逐步完善，但更具有挑战性的问题是：如何从单纯利用太空技术转向自主开发和创新太空技术。
The harder question is how Ghana moves from using space technology to developing and building more of it itself. What Ghana is already doing At the GSSTI, that transition is already under way.
加纳已经在为此做努力。在加纳空间科学技术研究所（GSSTI）的支持下，GSSTI与比利时弗拉芒技术研究所（VITO）合作开展的“GEOMAIZE”项目展示了如何将卫星数据应用于加纳的农业领域。该项目用于监测作物生长状况，并开发了用于作物分类的算法。加纳还在不断扩大对地球观测数据及人工智能技术的应用，以用于作物监测和产量预测。
Tandoh told Al Jazeera GEOMAIZE, a partnership between the GSSTI and VITO, the Flemish Institute for Technological Research in Belgium, has demonstrated how satellite data can be applied to Ghanaian agriculture. The project monitored crop health and developed algorithms to classify crops. Ghana is also expanding its use of Earth observation data and artificial intelligence for crop monitoring and yield prediction.
加纳太空科学技术研究所与Galaxy Aerospace Ghana公司共同开发了一款用于作物健康监测的应用程序，以支持粮食安全工作。不过，预测作物产量仍然面临困难——Tandoh指出，现有模型的预测精度未能达到预期，主要是因为许多加纳农民采用小规模混合种植方式，而卫星提供的土壤湿度数据过于粗糙，无法准确反映不同小规模农场的实际情况。
A crop health monitoring app developed by Galaxy Aerospace Ghana to support food security [Handout/GSSTI/Galaxy Aerospace Ghana] But predicting yields has proved more difficult. Tandoh said the model’s accuracy fell short of expectations, largely because many Ghanaian farmers practise smallholder mixed cropping and satellite soil-moisture data are too coarse to capture differences between small farms.
目前，在法国大使馆及国际研究机构的支持下，一项后续项目正在开展中，旨在改进这些预测模型。
A follow-up project supported by the French embassy and international research partners, is now working to improve the estimates.
GSSTI还利用卫星数据追踪与采矿有关的森林损失，并与尼日利亚的合作伙伴共同开发数字孪生系统，以模拟凯塔和阿加韦兹的海岸侵蚀。日本合作提供了技术培训，而法国政府支持了空间立法工作，形成了一份草案，目前正由总检察长审查。
The GSSTI has also used satellite data to track forest loss linked to mining and is working with partners in Nigeria on a digital twin to simulate coastal erosion at Keta and Agavedzi. Japanese cooperation has provided technical training while the French government supported work on space legislation that produced a draft now being reviewed by the attorney general.
“我们常说，加纳空间科学与技术研究所升级为一个机构，是为了让加纳处于这样一个位置：我们不仅是技术的使用者，还将为设计、开发和建造我们自己的工具做出贡献，”坦多说。
“We always say that Ghana Space Science and Technology Institute becoming an agency is to position Ghana in a way that we will not only be users of the technology but we will also contribute to designing, developing and building our own tools,” Tandoh said.
资金之墙 维克多·塔格博洛于2020年创立了加纳银河航空航天公司。两年后，他的团队发射了一个高空气球进入近空间，在获得国家安全和机场当局许可的情况下，拍摄了加纳地理景观的图像。
The funding wall Victor Tagborloh founded Galaxy Aerospace Ghana in 2020. Two years later, his team launched a high-altitude balloon into near space, capturing images of Ghana’s geography with clearance from national security and airport authorities.
此后，该公司为GSSTI设计了微型火箭，培训年轻人学习空间机器人技术和人工智能，并推动Starlink于2024年进入加纳。但塔格博洛表示，公司成立六年来仍未获得投资者。
The company has since designed mini-rockets for the GSSTI, trained young people in space robotics and artificial intelligence and pushed for the introduction of Starlink in Ghana in 2024. But Tagborloh said the company has yet to secure an investor, six years after it was founded.
银河公司的长远规划包括在加纳中部地区阿帕姆已获得的33,000公顷（82,000英亩）土地上建设一所空间大学，以及一个地面站，这将使该国具备更强的监测洪水、采矿活动和海岸侵蚀的能力。
Galaxy’s longer-term plans include a space university on 33,000 hectares (82,000 acres) that it has secured at Apam in Ghana’s Central Region as well as a ground station that would give the country greater capacity to monitor floods, mining activity and coastal erosion.
该公司正在为地面站和地理空间情报平台寻找投资者。塔格博洛表示，课程已准备就绪，土地也已到位。缺少的是将这些规划转化为基础设施的资金。
The company is seeking investors for the ground station and a geospatial intelligence platform. Tagborloh said the curriculum is ready and the land is available. What is missing is the capital to turn those plans into infrastructure.
他还辩称，加纳靠近赤道的位置可为发射航天器提供优势，有可能减少进入轨道所需的燃料。其他几个非洲国家也拥有类似的地理条件。
He also argued that Ghana’s position near the equator could provide an advantage for launching spacecraft, potentially reducing the fuel required to reach orbit. Several other African countries share similar geography.
但塔格博洛的雄心不止于发射火箭。他希望加纳能发展更多建设本国航天能力所需的基础设施和专业知识。谁在建设这个产业？
But Tagborloh’s ambition goes beyond launching rockets. He wants Ghana to develop more of the infrastructure and expertise needed to build its own space capabilities. Who is building the industry?
非洲发展委员会主席、加纳原子能委员会高级研究工程师布赖特·阿楚·索格贝认为，私营部门无法独自建设该产业。
Bright Atsu Sogbey, president of the Africa Development Council and a senior research engineer at the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission, argued that the private sector cannot build the industry alone.
“借来的技术无法持续，”索格贝对半岛电视台表示。“国家必须掌握主导权，利用我们拥有的自然资源，确保在与私营部门合作的情况下，能够为航天产业建立实验室和制造中心。”他指出，南非、埃及和尼日利亚已建立航天实验室并制造了试验卫星。他说，加纳仍然缺乏国家支持的实验室和制造中心，无法生产更多自主组件，只能依赖进口。
“Borrowed technology cannot be sustainable,” Sogbey told Al Jazeera. “The state must be in the driver’s seat, using the natural resources we have to ensure that, in partnership with the private sector, we can have laboratories and manufacturing hubs for the space industry.”He pointed to South Africa, Egypt and Nigeria, which have established space laboratories and manufactured test satellites. Ghana, he said, still lacks the state-backed laboratories and manufacturing hubs needed to produce more of its own components rather than importing them.
加纳的射电望远镜用于研究和培训 [手稿/GSSTI]“光说不练假把式，”索格贝说。“下一届博览会应当见到非洲卫星在本大陆组装，并具备发射非洲卫星的能力。”非洲进步研究与创新公司首席执行官、工程师丹尼尔·阿博阿耶表示，变革也必须从教育入手。
Ghana’s radio telescope is used for research and training [Handout/GSSTI]“Enough of the talk shop,” Sogbey said. “The next expo should see African satellites assembled on this continent and launching capability for African satellites.”Engineer Daniel Aboagye, CEO of African Progressive Research and Innovations, said the change must also begin in education.
“随着技术的进步，非洲必须将空间科学纳入教育体系，”阿博阿耶对半岛电视台表示。“我们不能继续做不懂技术原理的技术消费者。”COMCENT Ghana首席执行官夸德沃·德沃莫二世从事依赖卫星数据的农业科技系统工作。他也呼吁政府加大对该领域的投资。
“With how technology is advancing, Africa must introduce space science into its education systems,” Aboagye told Al Jazeera. “We cannot continue to be consumers of technology we do not understand.”Kwadwo Dwomo II, CEO of COMCENT Ghana, works on agritech systems that depend on satellite data. He also called for greater government investment in the sector.
加纳拥有一小批公司，包括银河航空航天、泽维尔空间解决方案和艾耶吉航空航天，从事卫星技术、地球观测和地理空间服务等领域的工作。
Ghana is home to a small cluster of companies, including Galaxy Aerospace, Xavier Space Solutions and Ayeji Aerospace, working in areas such as satellite technology, Earth observation and geospatial services.
盖乐航天向半岛电视台确认，无法参加今年的博览会。该公司表示希望参加下一届博览会。
Galaxy Aerospace confirmed to Al Jazeera that it was unable to participate in this year’s expo. The company said it hopes to participate in the next expo.
一个大陆级项目 迦纳面临的挑战在非洲大部分地区普遍存在：从使用空间技术转向在本地开发和建设更多技术，同时克服投资、基础设施和制造能力有限的问题。ASPEX的设计初衷之一就是为了弥补这一差距。
A continental project The challenge facing Ghana is shared across much of Africa: moving from using space technology to developing and building more of it locally while overcoming limited investment, infrastructure and manufacturing capacity. ASPEX was designed in part to address that gap.
总部设在埃及的非洲航天局旨在为合作提供大陆级框架，而博览会则旨在将投资者与非洲初创企业、研究人员和空间项目联系起来。
The African Space Agency, headquartered in Egypt, is intended to provide a continental framework for cooperation while the expo aims to connect investors with African start-ups, researchers and space projects.
但博览会上展示的雄心与试图将其转化为业务的工程师可用资源之间的差距依然巨大。
But the distance between the ambitions presented at the expo and the resources available to engineers trying to turn them into businesses remains substantial.
对于坦多而言，迦纳的当务之急是构建应用层：一个能够为政府各部委服务的卫星数据处理中心，然后再进一步迈向设计和发射本国卫星。
For Tandoh, Ghana’s immediate priority is to build the application layer: a satellite-data processing hub capable of serving ministries across government before the country moves further into designing and launching its own satellites.
“空间技术贯穿所有部委，”他告诉半岛电视台。“我们应该首先能够构建和验证我们自己的工具。”对塔格博洛而言，时间表更为紧迫。
“Space cuts across all the ministries,” he told Al Jazeera. “We should be able to build and validate our own tools first.”For Tagborloh, the timeline is more urgent.
“我们不应等待明天，”他告诉半岛电视台。“无论我们必须做出什么决定，特别是关于航天产业的人力资源资本，都必须是现在。”迦纳有政策，有工程师、研究机构和试图建设航天产业的公司。它尚不具备的是将这些能力转化为国内产业所需的资金和制造能力。
“We shouldn’t wait for tomorrow,” he told Al Jazeera. “Whatever decision we have to take, especially for human resource capital in the space industry, it has to be now.”Ghana has the policy. It has engineers, research institutions and companies trying to build a space industry. What it does not yet have is the capital and manufacturing capacity to turn those capabilities into a domestic industry.
“我们有团队、知识、研究和技术诀窍，”塔格博洛告诉半岛电视台。“我们只需要资金。”
“We have the team, the knowledge, the research and the technical know-how,” Tagborloh told Al Jazeera. “We just need funds.”