Sustainable Africa space governance: Strategic decision support framework, opportunities, challenges and solutions

Africa's engagement in space sciences and space systems is rapidly evolving, presenting both significant challenges and immense opportunities. This article explores the current state of African space endeavors, highlighting the limitations imposed by infrastructural deficiencies, limited funding, and lack of skilled workforce. Despite these hurdles, considerable potential exists in leveraging space technology for socio-economic development across the continent, particularly in agriculture, disaster management, telecommunications, and resource management. Opportunities include fostering regional collaborations, attracting international partnerships, and investing in education and training programs to cultivate a robust space sector. This article uses multifaceted techniques including multi-criteria decision analysis, case study and structured review to identify the current space governance gaps in Africa, raise awareness of Geoinformatics, Open Science (OS), and Artificial Intelligence (AI), in achieving sustainable space governance in Africa, and cater for a decision support framework including through as proposed African governance model, capacity development, implementation plan and roadmap to further African Union’s Agenda-2063. This work highlights the need for a concerted effort to develop comprehensive national space policies, promote private sector participation, and establish sustainable funding mechanisms to ensure the long-term success and impact of African space systems. A focus on capacity development and the development of indigenous technologies, building a solid regulatory framework, and enhancing satellite infrastructure, would be crucial for achieving self-reliance and maximizing the benefits derived from space exploration and application across the diverse African landscape. The article has developed collaborative decision support and capacity development framework for space governance to guide decision-making across various aspects of the African space industry, considering its unique context and challenges. It outlines how open science promotes cross-disciplinary collaboration and the sharing of knowledge, while Geoinformatics and AI enable real-time data analysis that supports environmental monitoring and policy formulation. Moreover, it encompasses implementation plan, capacity development and African space governance model for achieving sustainable Africa space governance. Furthermore, it highlights challenges of implementation and presents solutions and opportunities for Africa.