Teen girls design Africa’s first private satellite

Teen girls in South Africa have grand ambitions to launch the continent’s first private space satellite.

Africa’s first private satellite was designed by a team of high school girls. The team of 14 aim to provide agricultural data: “Where our food is growing, where we can plant more trees and vegetation and also how we can monitor remote areas,” said 17-year-old Brittany Bull of Cape Town, South Africa. “We have a lot of forest fires and floods but we don’t always get out there in time.” They are working in concert with satellite engineers from Cape Peninsula University of Technology as part of a project by South Africa’s Meta Economic Development Organization (MEDO).

“I want to show to fellow girls that we don’t need to sit around or limit ourselves. Any career is possible — even aerospace.”

(thanks to Nani for sending this in!)