[3] Currently, SANSA's main focusses include using data obtained from remote sensing through satellites and other projects to provide assessment on flooding, fires, resource management and environmental phenomena in South Africa and the African continent.

Throughout the 1950s to 1970s lunar and interplanetary missions conducted by NASA had been supported from a tracking station at Hartebeesthoek where the first images of Mars were received from the Mariner IV spacecraft in the first successful flyby of the planet.

[7] Other South African facilities also assisted in tracking satellites to determine the effects of the upper atmosphere on their orbits.

In 1999, South Africa launched its first satellite, SUNSAT from Vandenberg Air Force Base in the US.

[8] SANSA's mission is to use space science and technology to: SANSA is a key contributor to the South African Earth Observation Strategy (SAEOS), for which the primary objective is "to coordinate the collection, assimilation and dissemination of Earth observation data, so that their full potential to support policy, decision-making, economic growth and sustainable development in South Africa can be realised."