Why Africa's first private satellite has been built by schoolgirls

Africa is about to launch its first private satellite.

Scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2016, the launch will make MEDO, or the Meta Economic Development Organization, the first private company in Africa to build a satellite and send it into orbit.

It’s a unique achievement for two reasons: firstly, South Africa (where the company is based) has only ever sent three satellites into space. And secondly, the engineers designing the satellites aren’t veteran astrophysicists, as you might expect – they’re teenage schoolgirls.

So why do we at MEDO focus specifically on young women? We discovered that while 80% of jobs are predicted to require a STEM-related education by 2020, less than 10% of young women are currently interested in studying science, tech, engineering and maths subjects in further education.

Source: US Department of Education

Ten to eighty percent is a huge chasm to cross, and we knew we needed a compelling project. Enter our satellite programme, designed to stir up young women’s interest in science by having them literally reach for the stars.

In the past three years, small-format satellites have come into their own as a means of collecting data about the planet quickly, cheaply and effectively. MEDO aims to give young women a hand in the process, by having them design the payloads of private satellites.

Our motto, “building the economy one job at a time”, is normally aimed at start-ups and entrepreneurs, but we soon realized we should be starting earlier than that. To have any real effect on the economy, we found, we would need to engage with people at school level.

The ultimate target is to inspire young women with a passion and excitement for STEM subjects. We want them to go back to their schools as ambassadors for science and tech, and spread their enthusiasm to other students.

Nwabisa Sitole, one of our graduates and a future electrical engineer, says: “I feel inspired. I never imagined a girl from a township doing these big and amazing things, learning from world-renowned astronomers.”

Sometimes big things can start from something as small as a confidence boost, which in the long run will enable young women to take paths that have traditionally been dominated by men. Our goal is to have every young woman we work with leave with confidence, passion and a sense of power.

The MEDO Space Programme is put together in three phases. The first is Space Prep, a series of one-day workshops at local high schools. The second, called Space Trek, is a one-week intensive bootcamp at which up to 30 young women build and launch their own small CricketSat satellites using high-altitude weather balloons. The third phase is where Space Trek graduates and students design and implement payloads for the satellites.

We have found that participants at our workshops and bootcamps often return to school with renewed energy for their subjects and new goals for the future. Most go on to enter STEM-related fields of study after high school.

While the ultimate goal is to produce a raft of female engineers, there is much work to do first, in both Africa and South Africa – especially when it seems the statistics are squared against progress. We need to raise the pass rate of national exams, so we can start setting up young people for success, regardless of the subjects they pursue.

Our aim for the year is to help as many individuals as possible, so that we can create a generation of passionate young minds that contribute to the economy – not only with skills, but with solutions. We are definitely up to the challenge; this is our private-sector solution.

Have you read?
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