Ron Olivier, head of Business Development at SumbandilaSat maker SunSpace, told defenceWeb that although contact can still be made with the satellite, it cannot capture images and is thus "not fulfilling its main purpose". Olivier said that chances of repairing the satellite are virtually zero and that SunSpace has moved on to other projects.
SumbandilaSat was damaged during a solar storm in June. The power supply to the satellite's onboard computer failed and the satellite stopped sending back images. Previous failures caused the craft to tumble in orbit. According to Olivier, the satellite was built from commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) equipment, since SumbandilaSat was intended only as a technology demonstrator. As such, SunSpace engineer Niki Steenkamp said, the satellite has been an enormous success and has survived far longer than anticipated, collecting 'priceless' information and experience that can now be utilised during the construction of future satellites. Olivier says that SumbandilaSat's radio transmissions still operate, making it useful to radio operators and amateur radio enthusiasts around the world, including in the US, Europe and Australia.
SumbandilaSat was developed by Sunspace at an estimated total cost of R100 million - a tenth of a NASA satellite of similar size, Olivier says. Last year the Department of Science and Technology (DST) said that for every R1 invested in the SumbandilaSat programme, there has been a R6 return. However, according to Raoul Hodges, centre manager at the Satellite Application Centre (SAC), value gained through the SumbandilaSat project is not a cash value, rather - "it's about the value for the social benefit of the country, considering the people involved, knowledge obtained and human capital investments," Hodges told UN-Spider.
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