It is called 'Simba', and is a satellite created by students and researchers at La Sapienza University of Rome in collaboration with Machakos University and the University of Nairobi, both in Kenya. It will soon be launched from a base in Kazhakistan, as the completion of a project supported by the Italian Space Agency and the Kenyan Space Agency.
A collaboration that will put a second satellite into orbit in August from the Italian San Marco base at the Luigi Broglio Space Centre in Ngomeni, north of Malindi. It seems very strange, even though the statement has been replied to by local newspapers, because the base has not launched for many years and because launching nanosatellites would require considerable expenditure.
We await possible denials.
The main function of the Simba satellite, whose implementation was completed in Russia, will be to monitor from space the movements and habits of animals, but also fires and other events in the African savannah that could alter the ecosystem and the lives of the animals themselves. Simba (Swahili for 'lion') also stands for System for Improved Monitoring of the Behavior of Animals.
Simba is the third nano-satellite developed as part of international collaborations by students of the Sapienza Aerospace Engineering courses, and the second in collaboration with the University of Nairobi with which KUNS was designed, whose launch took place in 2018. Simba is equipped with an innovative wildlife tracking system in Kenya's national parks. It will be used to study the behaviour of animals in an attempt to reduce the dangers of them trespassing, causing extensive damage to crops and, in the most serious cases, loss of life. The satellite will be able to receive the position and health data of the collared animals and relay them to ground stations.