Zambia spent more than $14 million on the building of its first satellite station.

According to science and technology Minister Felix Mutati, the facility would be launched on a date to be announced in due course, once the ground-receiving station is built.

A ground-receiving station is a terrestrial radio station used for extraplanetary communication with spacecraft or to receive radio waves from astronomical radio sources.

In Zambia, the station is located in the Chibombo region of the Central Province.

“Experts are now testing the ground-receiving station as they prepare to go into the second phase of the preparations to launch the satellite,” Mutati said this past weekend in the capital, Lusaka.

“The government is committed to launch the satellite station, which will help in agriculture, forestry, ground water management and other sectors."

Among other things, the satellite station will help forecast the weather and help limit the effects of climate change, such as drought.

Mutati stated that the government of President Haikande Hichilema's decision to spend millions on the satellite facility during a period of drought and runaway debt demonstrated the government's dedication to the technological project.