[3][4] The Ethiopian Space Science Society (ESSS) was created as a citizens' association in 2004.
ESSS helped to organise the creation of Entoto Observatory in 2014 and of the Ethiopian Space Science and Technology Institute in 2016.
[6] As of December 2020[update], Yeshurun Alemayehu was ESSTI's deputy general director.
[4] ESSTI's first satellite, ETRSS-1, is a 72 kg remote sensing microsatellite, co-designed by Ethiopian and Chinese engineers and launched in December 2019.
[5][10] Mirjana Pović, an assistant professor of the department and head of the department from 2018 to 2020, was awarded the inaugural Jocelyn Bell Burnell Inspiration Medal in 2021 by the European Astronomical Society for her contributions to the development of "astronomy, science and education as a route out of poverty and to improve the quality of life for young people in Africa.