NigComSat not missing

Following report on Tuesday evening that the Nigeria's satellite is missing, Nigerian Minister of State for Science and Technology Dr. Alhassan Zaku has responded on Wednesday that NigComsat-I, Africa's first communication satellite was not missing but was parked to conserve its energy. He said that engineers manning the satellite station in Nigeria noticed that its battery was not charging on early Tuesday but could not rectify the problem.

The minister, quoted by some officials of News Agency of Nigeria, said that the company took the option of parking the satellite to conserve its energy to avoid a collision with other satellites in the orbit.

On the possible cause of the problem, Dr. Alhassan Zaku said that the satellite could have been blocked from the sun, which makes it impossible for the solar batteries to recharge.

He also said that repair work was going on, and if the satellite could not be repaired, the company that insured it would replace it with another one in the orbit or build a new one.

So, NigComSat is not missing afterall.