A group of teenage girls will be launching Africa’s inaugural privately-owned satellite in space.

Although they are adolescents, Brittany Bull, 17, and Sesam Mngqengqiswa, 16, have big dreams of sending Africa’s initial private satellite into orbit in 2019.

A group of teenage girls from Cape Town, South Africa, have created and assembled payloads for a satellite that will scan Africa’s surface while orbiting over the earth’s poles.

Once the satellite is in space, it will gather data on agriculture and food security in the continent.

According to Bull, a student at Pelican Park High School, by analyzing the transmitted data, we can attempt to foresee the challenges that Africa will encounter in the coming years.

The goal of South Africa’s initiative is to promote the participation of girls in STEM fields, specifically in astronomy. Currently, less than 10% of young women show interest in STEM subjects.

She mentions the locations of our food production and potential areas for planting trees and vegetation, as well as the need to monitor remote regions. Despite facing challenges such as forest fires and floods, timely responses may not always be possible.

Data received twice daily will be utilized for disaster prevention purposes.

MEDO, the Meta Economic Development Organization of South Africa, is collaborating with Morehead State University in the United States for a project.

The progress of Africa in space exploration has been sluggish. However, recent endeavors in the continent show potential. The Square Kilometer Array project in South Africa has ambitious goals to construct the largest radio telescope globally, which will assist researchers in creating a comprehensive depiction of the farthest corners of the universe.

Displayed in this image is a combination of the MeerKAT and Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) satellites.

The Square Kilometer Array, consisting of 3,000 satellite dishes, will be located in South Africa’s Karoo desert and will work together within a square kilometer space.

The SKA is a global project, with its main operations based in the United Kingdom and the telescope situated in both Australia and South Africa.

The project will increase Africa’s involvement by using remote stations located in Botswana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, and Zambia.

Researchers are optimistic that this project will provide more insights into the enigmas presented by phenomena such as quasars, dark matter, and black holes.

Shown here are the initial photographs captured by the MeerKAT, a telescope array consisting of 16 dishes that will eventually be integrated into the Square Kilometre Array.

The First Light image from MeerKAT, with each white dot representing the intensity of radio waves captured by 16 dishes of the telescope in the Karoo desert.

Over 1,300 separate entities, which are galaxies located in the far reaches of the universe, can be observed in this picture.

The government of Nigeria has declared its intentions to send an astronaut into space by the year 2030, as a part of a grandiose space initiative.

Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

Nigeria has successfully sent five satellites into orbit. The initial one, NigeriaSat-1, was launched in 2003 from Russia’s Plesetsk spaceport on a Kosmos-3M rocket.

The Nigerian space agency reports that they have educated 300 employees to the level of PhD or BsC, and have grand aspirations of growing the sector and promoting space initiatives throughout the entire continent.

Ghana has recently constructed a new facility for space exploration, showcasing the nation’s commitment to modern technology industries.

Egypt’s space program is one of the oldest on the continent, as it has launched multiple satellites using Russian rockets.

The progress of Africa’s space exploration.

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Ambitious first

Fourteen girls are being trained by engineers from Cape Peninsula University of Technology via satellite in order to promote more African women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics).

If the launch is a success, MEDO will become the first private company in Africa to construct and launch a satellite into orbit.

“We are anticipating a strong signal that will provide us with dependable data,” states Mngqengqiswa, a passionate teacher at Philippi High School. “In South Africa, we have faced severe floods and droughts that have greatly impacted farmers.”

According to MEDO, by the year 2020, 80% of jobs will fall under the category of STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics). However, at present, only 14% of the STEM workforce around the world consists of women.

In recent years, the country has been facing ongoing challenges with drought and environmental impacts caused by climate change. According to a UN report, a drought induced by El Niño resulted in a deficit of 9.3 million tons in maize production in southern Africa in April 2016.

“The decrease in our economy has been a result of this… This presents us with an opportunity to consider ways to improve our economy,” states the youth, Mngqengqiswa.

Inspiring girls

The satellite owned by the girls will provide a comprehensive view of the drought situation in South Africa, which caused a deficit of 9.3 million tons in maize production for southern Africa in April 2016.

The first attempts consisted of the girls coding and sending out small CricketSat satellites using weather balloons that reach high altitudes. They then went on to assist in setting up the payloads for the satellites.

Young girls in Nigeria have built robots to tackle waste as part of the Odyssey Educational Foundation after school program. Since 2009, Boko Haram attacks in the region have partly been aimed at discouraging girls from pursuing education. Courtesy John Spaull/Scidev.net The girls learning science in defiance of Boko Haram

Small, inexpensive satellites are efficient for quickly collecting data about the planet. Current experiments have focused on gathering thermal imaging data, which is then analyzed for early detection of flooding or drought.

Mngqengqiswa expresses their belief that this new field in Africa has the potential to bring about beneficial changes to the economy.

In the end, the goal is for the project to involve girls from Namibia, Malawi, Kenya, and Rwanda.

Mngqengqiswa was raised by a single parent and her mother works as a domestic worker. She dreams of becoming a space engineer or astronaut in order to bring pride to her mother.

african voices change makers spc a_00010727.jpg video ‘The Harvard of Africa’

Mngqengqiswa explains that the ability to explore space and observe the Earth’s atmosphere is not a common experience among black Africans, as many do not have the opportunity to do so.

The young female student is correct; throughout 50 years of space exploration, no person of African descent has traveled to outer space. Mngqengqiswa expresses, “I desire to witness these phenomena firsthand and have the opportunity to personally experience them.”

Bull, her teammate, also shares the same sentiment: “I want to inspire other girls by showing them that we don’t have to limit ourselves or stay idle. Any profession is attainable, even in the field of aerospace.”

Source: cnn.com