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Africa is set to launch its first private satellite into space, which has been designed and built by schoolgirls.
Brittany Bull, 17, and Sesam Mngqengqiswa, 16, are leading a team of high school girls from Cape Town, South Africa, in this ambitious project.
The satellite will collect information on agriculture and food security in Africa, helping to predict and prevent future problems.
The project aims to encourage more African women to pursue STEM fields and if successful, will make MEDO the first private company in Africa to launch a satellite into orbit.
This initiative is especially significant for South Africa, which has experienced droughts and floods that have negatively impacted farmers and the economy.
Initial trials involved launching small CricketSat satellites using weather balloons, and the team has progressed to configuring satellite payloads.
Mngqengqiswa hopes that by becoming a space engineer or astronaut, she will make her single mother proud and inspire other black Africans to pursue careers in space exploration.
The ultimate goal of the project is to involve girls from Namibia, Malawi, Kenya, and Rwanda.
Both Bull and Mngqengqiswa aim to break barriers and show girls that any career, even aerospace, is possible.
