Imagine a world without telecommunications – no GPS, Google Maps, weather forecasts or even DStv.
Satellites are making it possible to monitor everything from space, providing all of the above.
Parklands College is following this approach, currently educating its learners in space engineering.
“As our focus now moves to taking humans into space on commercial flights and possibly in the not-too-distant future even to living on Mars, we need to educate a generation of space engineers,” says Ellie Clews, the school’s social media coordinator.
This was made possible by satellite manufacturing giant Intelsat in partnership with MaxIQ Space, aiming to inspire teenagers from across Africa to set their sights on becoming satellite engineers.
Two learners at Parklands College, Ruby McCulloch (Grade 11) and Declan Saul (Grade 9), were selected to be part of Mission 1 of the programme.
Only 30 learners were selected from the entire African continent.
Christell Meyers, Intelsat’s sales director, says: “Building the pipeline of the next generation of satellite engineers begins with our partnership with MaxIQ. Sparking that interest at such a young age inspires future leaders who will soon lead the way with advancements we never dreamed possible.
“At Parklands College, an extensive set of opportunities supported by specialist educators inspires our learners to find their purpose and build their futures now,” Crew says.
A series of workshops and assignments will culminate at the end of April in an awards ceremony where a selection of learners for Mission 2 will be announced.
Each Mission 2 learner will send an experiment to the International Space Station which will be used to collect and measure real scientific data and allow them to participate in real space science.
