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Teenage girls to launch Africa's first private space satellite

By Nosmot Gbadamosi, CNN

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In May 2017, South Africa will launch the continent's first private satellite into space. It's been designed by school girls, within a STEM program. Pictured: Ayesha Salie, Sesam Mngqengqiswa, and Bhanekazi Tandwa on a learning boot camp with fellow teammates in Worcester, Western Cape Province, South Africa.
Photos: Searching for South Africa's drought solution in space
Giant leap for Africa's young scientists – In May 2017, South Africa will launch the continent's first private satellite into space. It's been designed by school girls, within a STEM program. Pictured: Ayesha Salie, Sesam Mngqengqiswa, and Bhanekazi Tandwa on a learning boot camp with fellow teammates in Worcester, Western Cape Province, South Africa.
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"Our first pilot will be to monitor crops," says 17-year-old Brittany Bull. "Where our food is growing, where we can plant more trees and vegetation and also how we can monitor remote areas." Pictured: Bull engages with her team mates during the design stage in Cape Town, South Africa, in January 2016.
Photos: Searching for South Africa's drought solution in space
Giant leap for Africa's young scientists – "Our first pilot will be to monitor crops," says 17-year-old Brittany Bull. "Where our food is growing, where we can plant more trees and vegetation and also how we can monitor remote areas." Pictured: Bull engages with her team mates during the design stage in Cape Town, South Africa, in January 2016.
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"We expect to get a good signal which will allow us to receive reliable data and be able to make future decisions on what we need to do to prevent these things [drought]," said Sesam Mngqengqiswa, aged 16. It's part of a project by South Africa's Meta Economic Development Organization. Pictured: The girls perform altitude tests using helium balloons in Cape Town, South Africa.
Photos: Searching for South Africa's drought solution in space
Giant leap for Africa's young scientists – "We expect to get a good signal which will allow us to receive reliable data and be able to make future decisions on what we need to do to prevent these things [drought]," said Sesam Mngqengqiswa, aged 16. It's part of a project by South Africa's Meta Economic Development Organization. Pictured: The girls perform altitude tests using helium balloons in Cape Town, South Africa.
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"In South Africa we have experienced some of the worst floods and droughts and it has really affected the farmers very badly," adds Mngqengqiswa. Pictured: Mngqengqiswa observes the data coming in from her weather satellite.
Photos: Searching for South Africa's drought solution in space
Giant leap for Africa's young scientists – "In South Africa we have experienced some of the worst floods and droughts and it has really affected the farmers very badly," adds Mngqengqiswa. Pictured: Mngqengqiswa observes the data coming in from her weather satellite.
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In this photo initial trials involved the girls programming and launching small CricketSat satellites using high-altitude weather balloons, before eventually helping to configure the satellite payloads.<br />
Photos: Searching for South Africa's drought solution in space
Giant leap for Africa's young scientists – In this photo initial trials involved the girls programming and launching small CricketSat satellites using high-altitude weather balloons, before eventually helping to configure the satellite payloads.
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In this photo Dr. Benjamin Malphrus from Morehead State University (Kentucky, USA) and Siphelele Mzongwana, a student from Manyano High School, receiving and analyzing data from a cricket satellite. It had been launched using a helium weather balloon in Worcester, Western Cape Province, South Africa.
Photos: Searching for South Africa's drought solution in space
Giant leap for Africa's young scientists – In this photo Dr. Benjamin Malphrus from Morehead State University (Kentucky, USA) and Siphelele Mzongwana, a student from Manyano High School, receiving and analyzing data from a cricket satellite. It had been launched using a helium weather balloon in Worcester, Western Cape Province, South Africa.
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Information received twice a day will go towards disaster prevention. "We can try to stop it from happening from the data that we collect -- we can form responses," Bull says. Pictured here: Girls study launch procedure during a boot camp session in Cape Town, South Africa.
Photos: Searching for South Africa's drought solution in space
Giant leap for Africa's young scientists – Information received twice a day will go towards disaster prevention. "We can try to stop it from happening from the data that we collect -- we can form responses," Bull says. Pictured here: Girls study launch procedure during a boot camp session in Cape Town, South Africa.
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Medo girlsMedo girlsSatellite girlsMedo girlsSatellite girlsSatellite girlsSatellite girls

Story highlights

  • Africa will launch its first private satellite into space
  • It's been built by schoolgirls

(CNN)They may be teenagers, but 17-year-old Brittany Bull and 16-year-old Sesam Mngqengqiswa have grand ambitions -- to launch Africa's first private satellite into space.

They are part of a team of high school girls from Cape Town, South Africa, who have designed and built payloads for a satellite that will orbit over the earth's poles scanning Africa's surface.
Once in space, the satellite will collect information on agriculture, and food security within the continent.
    Using the data transmitted, "we can try to determine and predict the problems Africa will be facing in the future", explains Bull, a student at Pelican Park High School.
    South Africa's program aims to encourage girls into STEM, particularly astronomy. Less than 10% of young women are interested in STEM subjects.
    South Africa's program aims to encourage girls into STEM, particularly astronomy. Less than 10% of young women are interested in STEM subjects.
    "Where our food is growing, where we can plant more trees and vegetation and also how we can monitor remote areas," she says. "We have a lot of forest fires and floods but we don't always get out there in time."
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    Information received twice a day will go towards disaster prevention.
    It's part of a project by South Africa's Meta Economic Development Organization (MEDO) working with Morehead State University in the US.
    Africa has been slow to embark on space travel. But new projects on the continent look promising. South Africa's ambitious Square Kilometer Array project aims to build the world's biggest radio telescope that will help scientists paint a detailed picture of some of the deepest reaches of outer space. <br /><br />Pictured here: a composite image of the MeerKAT and Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) satellites.
    Photos: Africa's journey to space
    Africa has been slow to embark on space travel. But new projects on the continent look promising. South Africa's ambitious Square Kilometer Array project aims to build the world's biggest radio telescope that will help scientists paint a detailed picture of some of the deepest reaches of outer space.

    Pictured here: a composite image of the MeerKAT and Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) satellites.
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    South Africa's Karoo desert will be home to the Square Kilometer Array, a cluster of 3,000 satellite dishes working in tandem over a square kilometer area.
    Photos: Africa's journey to space
    South Africa's Karoo desert will be home to the Square Kilometer Array, a cluster of 3,000 satellite dishes working in tandem over a square kilometer area.
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    The SKA is an international affair. Its headquartered in the UK while the telescope itself has a "dual site" location in Australia and South Africa. <br /><br />Africa's participation in the project will be ramped up by distant stations situated in Botswana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia and Zambia.
    Photos: Africa's journey to space
    The SKA is an international affair. Its headquartered in the UK while the telescope itself has a "dual site" location in Australia and South Africa.

    Africa's participation in the project will be ramped up by distant stations situated in Botswana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia and Zambia.
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    Scientists hope the project will shed further light on the mysteries posed by the likes of quasars, dark matter and black holes.
    Photos: Africa's journey to space
    Scientists hope the project will shed further light on the mysteries posed by the likes of quasars, dark matter and black holes.
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    Pictured here: the first light images from the MeerKAT. The telescope array currently comprises of 16 dishes that will eventually become a part of the Square Kilometre Array.
    Photos: Africa's journey to space
    Pictured here: the first light images from the MeerKAT. The telescope array currently comprises of 16 dishes that will eventually become a part of the Square Kilometre Array.
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    MeerKAT's First Light image. Each white dot represents the intensity of radio waves recorded with 16 dishes of the MeerKAT telescope in the Karoo desert. <br /><br />More than 1,300 individual objects - galaxies in the distant universe - are seen in this image.
    Photos: Africa's journey to space
    MeerKAT's First Light image. Each white dot represents the intensity of radio waves recorded with 16 dishes of the MeerKAT telescope in the Karoo desert.

    More than 1,300 individual objects - galaxies in the distant universe - are seen in this image.
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    The Nigerian government has announced its plans to launch an astronaut into space by 2030, as part of an ambitious space program. <br /><br />Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images
    Photos: Africa's journey to space
    The Nigerian government has announced its plans to launch an astronaut into space by 2030, as part of an ambitious space program.

    Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images
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    Nigeria has already launched five satellites into space. The first - NigeriaSat-1 - was launched on a Kosmos-3M rocket from Russia's Plesetsk spaceport in 2003.
    Photos: Africa's journey to space
    Nigeria has already launched five satellites into space. The first - NigeriaSat-1 - was launched on a Kosmos-3M rocket from Russia's Plesetsk spaceport in 2003.
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    The Nigerian space agency claims to have trained 300 staff to PhD or BsC level, and has ambitious plans to expand the industry, and encourage space programs across the continent.
    Photos: Africa's journey to space
    The Nigerian space agency claims to have trained 300 staff to PhD or BsC level, and has ambitious plans to expand the industry, and encourage space programs across the continent.
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    Ghana has established a new space center as part of the country's embrace of advanced technology industries.
    Photos: Africa's journey to space
    Ghana has established a new space center as part of the country's embrace of advanced technology industries.
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    Egypt has one of the continent's oldest space programs, having launched several satellites aboard Russian rockets.
    Photos: Africa's journey to space
    Egypt has one of the continent's oldest space programs, having launched several satellites aboard Russian rockets.
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    Meerkat Askap satelliteska telescope 2square kilometer array satelliteska telescope dark energymeerkat telescope 03meerkat telescope 01model astronautNigeriaSat-1: Launched 2003nigerian engineersghana space centerEGYPT SATELLITE

    Ambitious first

    The girls (14 in total) are being trained by satellite engineers from Cape Peninsula University of Technology, in a bid to encourage more African women into STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics).
    If the launch is successful, it will make MEDO the first private company in Africa to build a satellite and send it into orbit.
    "We expect to receive a good signal, which will allow us to receive reliable data," declares an enthusiastic Mngqengqiswa, of Philippi High School. "In South Africa we have experienced some of the worst floods and droughts and it has really affected the farmers very badly."
    By 2020 80% of jobs will be related to STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics), MEDO predicts, but currently only 14% of the STEM workforce globally are women.
    By 2020 80% of jobs will be related to STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics), MEDO predicts, but currently only 14% of the STEM workforce globally are women.
    An El Niño induced drought led to a shortfall of 9.3 million tons in southern Africa's April 2016 maize production, according to a UN report.
    South Africa is expected to import between 3 million and 4 million tonnes of maize to meet its shortfall this year.
    "It has caused our economy to drop ... This is a way of looking at how we can boost our economy," says the young Mngqengqiswa.

    Inspiring girls

    The girls' satellite will have a detailed vantage point of South Africa's drought crisis which led to a shortfall of 9.3 million tons in southern Africa's April 2016 maize production.
    The girls' satellite will have a detailed vantage point of South Africa's drought crisis which led to a shortfall of 9.3 million tons in southern Africa's April 2016 maize production.
    Initial trials involved the girls programming and launching small CricketSat satellites using high-altitude weather balloons, before eventually helping to configure the satellite payloads.
    The girls learning science in defiance of Boko Haram
    The girls learning science in defiance of Boko Haram
    Small format satellites are low cost ways of gathering data on the planet quickly. Tests so far have involved collecting thermal imaging data which is then interpreted for early flood or drought detection.
    "It's a new field for us [in Africa] but I think with it we would be able to make positive changes to our economy," says Mngqengqiswa.
    Ultimately, it is hoped the project will include girls from Namibia, Malawi, Kenya, and Rwanda.
    Mngqengqiswa comes from a single parent household. Her mother is a domestic worker. By becoming a space engineer or astronaut, the teenager hopes to make her mother proud.
    "Discovering space and seeing the Earth's atmosphere, it's not something many black Africans have been able to do, or do not get the opportunity to look at," says Mngqengqiswa.
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    The schoolgirl is right; in half a century of space travel, no black African has journeyed to outer space. "I want to see these things for myself," says Mngqengqiswa, "I want to be able to experience these things."
    Her team mate, Bull agrees, "I want to show to fellow girls that we don't need to sit around or limit ourselves. Any career is possible -- even aerospace."