Who's behind the news?
Who's behind the news?
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Newsjunkie.net is a resource guide for journalists. We show who's behind the news, and provide tools to help navigate the modern business of information.
Use of Data
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The Space Science and Geospatial Institute (SSGI) is an autonomous federal institute of Ethiopia, established in 2022 through Proclamation No. 1263/2021 and Regulation No. 511/2022 of the Federal Negarit Gazette. SSGI was formed by the merger of two predecessor bodies: the Ethiopian Space Science Technology Institute (ESSTI), itself established in 2016, and the Geospatial Information Institute (GII), which evolved from the Ethiopian Mapping Agency and, before that, the Ethiopian Cartographic Mapping and Geography Institute founded in 1954. The merger was intended to enable the collective use of space and geospatial technologies and improve administrative coordination of Ethiopia's space and geospatial sector.
SSGI operates as a research, training, and data infrastructure institution rather than a traditional archive. It maintains national geospatial datasets, satellite imagery, and spatial data layers accessible through the Ethiopia Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI/Ethio-SDI) geoportal. The institute oversees eight centres, including the Entoto Observatory and Research Center (EORC), which hosts Ethiopia's first astronomical observatory with twin 1-metre optical telescopes. SSGI also manages national satellite programmes, including microsatellites launched in collaboration with China (ETRSS-1 in 2019 and ET-SMART-RSS in 2020).
SSGI provides geospatial data, consultancy, training, and technical support to government and private institutions, researchers, and the public. Data is shared through the Ethio-SDI geoportal. The institute also hosts the East Africa Regional Office of Astronomy for Development (EA-ROAD), opened in 2014 under the International Astronomical Union's Office of Astronomy for Development.