Tomorrow’s satellites built today - Science Festival Review
By Jason Jonathan Joseph

There is an eerie silence in the room fuelled by concentration and creation. The sound of foil crinkling, being folded, cut and smoothed out, and scissors snipping at cardboard are the only sounds to be heard. Everyone focussed on creating their satellite. On Friday morning, grades 4 – 7 learners participated in the satellite building contest hosted by the South African National Space Agency (SANSA) at the Monument.

“This is the second year having this satellite building contest,” says Elisa Fraser, from SANSA, the coordinator of the satellite building contest. “It has been well attended, and I am encouraged by the enthusiasm of the learners.”

“The kids are able to understand, not just see,” says the judge for the competition, Eva Monare, the community engagement coordinator of the French South Africa Institute of Technology (F’SATI), “when they do, they are hands-on, it really stays in their heads, they won’t really forget.”

Monare noted that there is a serious shortage of engineers and scientists in South Africa. “What I would like to see is these kids really getting the message,” says Monare, “them really following into the field, especially in the black community.”

“I see they are going from simple, flat, two-dimensional foil and turning it into something that is three-dimensional and can be used in space,” says Fraser, “It’s about the mental process, and it just shows me that some of us have ideas of the limits, but I can see the possibilities here with these learners.”

Learners from Grahamstown’s Amasango Career School, for learners with learning difficulties and impoverished backgrounds, competed and it was from these that Fraser said she saw the most interesting and innovative satellites. And the winner of the senior section of the contest, Phiwe Mbona, is from Amasango.

“The ultimate goal,” says Fraser, is “for them to consider ultimately pursuing careers in space.” Both Monare and Fraser share these sentiments, and reiterate the importance of human development. “One of the strategic objectives of SANSA is human development,” says Fraser, “Because we know as a country, we have a shortage of engineers and scientists.”

This competition is the perfect launch pad for the future of space and science in our country