01 February 2023

The Republic of Djibouti has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Hong Kong Aerospace Technology Group Limited and Touchroad International Holdings Group to develop an international commercial spaceport in the northern Obock Region of Djibouti.

This is a preliminary agreement between the parties to build a spaceport which is expected to comprise seven satellite launch pads and three rocket testing pads. The project is estimated to cost around US$1 billion and is expected to take five years to complete.

In 2022 Djibouti announced that the country’s space programme is working on launching two satellites, Djibouti 1A and Djibouti 1B. These projects will facilitate human capacity development as well, by sending ten engineers to the University Space Centre of Montpellier to learn about small satellite development.