Africa is preparing to make its first major scientific journey to the Moon, and South Africa is at the centre of it.
The mission, known as Africa2Moon, is an African-led space project designed to place a radio telescope on the lunar surface in 2029. The project is being developed by African scientists and engineers, with South African institutions playing a major role in its design, engineering and coordination.
Africa2Moon was selected in April 2025 as one of the international payloads for China's Chang’e-8 lunar mission. The Chinese spacecraft is scheduled to travel to the Moon in 2029, carrying the African technology demonstrator to the lunar south-pole region.
The project is being led by the Foundation for Space Development Africa, working with organisations including the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO), the South African National Space Agency (SANSA) and the National Institute for Theoretical and Computational Sciences. Institutions and researchers from countries including Kenya, Ghana and Botswana are also involved.
At the heart of the mission is a technology demonstrator known as B.A.L.L.S. — Bounced African Low Lunar Spheres. The system consists of three spherical antennas that will be placed on the Moon and operated together as a radio astronomy array.
The reason for taking a radio telescope to the Moon is simple but scientifically important. Some very low-frequency radio signals from space cannot be properly studied from Earth because of interference from our planet's atmosphere and human-made radio signals.
The Moon offers a much quieter environment for this type of research. Once deployed, the African-built antennas will attempt to detect low-frequency signals from the Universe and send the information back to Earth for scientists to analyse.
The mission is being directed by Carla Sharpe Mitchell, founder of Africa2Moon and Africa Programme Manager at SARAO, while Dr Adriana Marais serves as Head of Science. The project has brought together scientists, engineers and other specialists from across Africa.
The journey from an idea to actual hardware has already begun. In April 2026, teams at Stellenbosch University, the Aerospace Systems Research Institute at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and Petrawell worked on manufacturing and assembling structural and functional models of the equipment. The models are intended to support testing with the Chang’e-8 team.
The project has also attracted attention because it has been developed largely through the efforts of African scientists, engineers and volunteers rather than through the kind of enormous budgets normally associated with lunar exploration.
Speaking at NASA's Exploration Science Forum on July 22, 2026, mission director Carla Mitchell reflected on how far the project had come. She said: “As a little girl I thought space was not possible for people in Africa. I never thought I would be here today, presenting our lunar mission at NASA.”
The 2029 mission is not intended to be the end of Africa2Moon. Instead, the three-antenna system will act as a technology demonstrator and a stepping stone towards a much larger project.
The long-term vision is to deploy 55 antennas on the far side of the Moon, creating a much larger African radio astronomy array. The organisers envision the future system as representing the countries of the African continent.
Beyond the scientific research, the project carries a wider message for Africa. Its organisers hope that putting African-designed technology on the Moon will encourage more young people across the continent to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
For South Africa, the mission also builds on the country's established strength in radio astronomy. The country hosts major scientific facilities and has developed significant expertise in observing the Universe through radio waves.
If the 2029 launch and lunar landing go according to plan, Africa2Moon will give African-built scientific technology a place on the lunar surface for the first time.
It will also represent something bigger than a single space experiment: a demonstration that African scientists and engineers can move from studying space from Earth to building technology capable of exploring beyond it.
For a continent with a young and growing population, the most important result may ultimately not be the signals received from the Moon, but the generation of African scientists who see the mission and realise that space exploration is not something Africa can only watch from the ground.
© 2026 Aliu Azeema |
TalkAfricang.com
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