Science

UM5-EOSAT

Earth observation / technology demonstration · Mohammed V University (Rabat)

UM5-EOSAT is the camera-carrying half of Morocco's first pair of university-built satellites, launched August 16, 2024 alongside its sibling UM5-RIBAT on SpaceX's Transporter-11 mission—together, the first satellites ever built by an African university. Built by students and researchers at Mohammed V University's Center for Research in Space Technologies in Rabat, EOSAT is an Earth-observation CubeSat under 4 kilograms, carrying a camera meant to capture high-resolution imagery of Moroccan territory rather than the radio-monitoring payload its sibling carries. Its design is reprogrammable in orbit, so its imaging behavior can be tuned after launch based on what operators learn once it's flying. The imagery and data it gathers is meant to be shared with Moroccan government agencies, universities, and research institutions, but the deeper purpose of the mission—explicitly stated by its backers—was training: giving a generation of Moroccan engineers hands-on experience building and operating real orbital hardware, rather than importing that expertise from abroad.