The satellite was supposed to provide Libreville with a real-time view of the state of Gabon's dense forest. But the programme, called Earthlab, was shut down in 2017, after only two years of operation. The excessive cost of processing the images proved too much for the initiative, which was quickly abandoned by its promoters. Earthlab cost the Fonds Gabonais d'Investissement Stratégique (FGIS) 2.2bn CFA francs (€3.4m).
This misadventure illustrates the many disappointments of the FGIS, the operational
