MEDO gives young women the chance to build a satellite payload

On 18 June 2015, MEDO hosted a discussion and presentation for its Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) programme. The idea with the programme is very simple, get more women to get involved in those fields. And earlier this month, 05 January to 11 January 2016, the programme culminated with SpaceTrek, a week long bootcamp held at High Africa Conference Center in Worcester.

On Monday night, at the end of SpaceTreck, the young girls, all of whom are between 14 and 17 years old, presented their findings to their parents, friends and the media at the Metropolitan Building and received their certificates.

During the bootcamp in Worcester, the 14 selected young women were tasked with building a payload for MEDOSat1, a satellite that MEDO plans to launch into space in the second quarter of the year 2016. The bootcamp was launched in partnership with the US’ Morehead State University, which runs a similar project in the USA.

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The South African programme is the first globally to receive the go-ahead from the Morehead Space Science Centre to run the programme against competing countries in South America and Europe.

“Historically people were excluded from learning subjects such as Maths and Science, so there is a legacy with some parents of not necessarily encouraging the youth to pursue careers in these fields. This is where we believe we can make an impact in assisting parents in creating this inspiration in our children and the desire to pursue careers in STEM” MEDO CEO Judi Sandrock explains.

The selected young women learnt about telecommunications, satellite construction, calibration, and data analysis. Part of the team that facilitated the workshops included Jennifer Carter, SpaceTrek USA Director and Professor Benjamin Malphrus, Space Science Centre, Director and Department Chair Program Earth and Space Sciences of Morehead State University.

One parent, Eric, whose daughter had taken part in the programme could not hold back his excitement. “I want my daughter to be a leader to other kids” he told Memeburn “I hope this has helped her to find out what she wants to do”

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During a debriefing session, the one sentiment that was echoed by almost all the girls was how the bootcamp gave them the chance to do practicals instead of only theory.

The programme’s third phase will be the actual launch of the satellite that the young women were building a payload for. The satellite will launch in the second quarter of 2016 from the Mojave Desert in the USA. The young women will be able to communicate with the satellite and experiment with communication and data gathering while it is in orbit.

At the end of the launch at the Metropolitan Building, the young women all admitted that the programme has changed their lives, that now they were open to careers that would have remained unknown to them. This Women in Stem programme will run for the next four years with a satellite launch planned each year.