Last Saturday I had the honour to be invited to participate as a keynote speaker and panelist in Space Generation (SG) Egypt’s first event ever: “Egypt’s Next Frontier“. I was very lucky to be surrounded by knowledgeable panelists from whom I learned a lot, and it was wonderfully moderated by Mina Takla, SG Egypt Program Lead and National Contact for Moon Village Association (MVA) Egypt. I must say that I enjoyed it greatly and I am sure that this is only the first of many SG -MVA events to come in Egypt. Egypt’s Next Frontier also gave me the perfect opportunity to learn more about the Egyptian Space Agency (EgSA) and their plans for this decade.

Egypt has already developed and launched many satellites and cubesats successfully. They also have a program called Egyptian University Cubesat (EUC) helping students to do their thesis on cubesat subsystems, raising awareness on space topics and establishing space laboratories in universities and schools. In the recent years EgSA is looking beyond launching satellites to promote research (emphasizing space medicine), increase diversity in the space sector, become an important contributor to international space policy, and develop space missions (including to the Moon!). They are also upgrading their capacity building and industrial facilities to support the growth of the commercial space industry. And not only that, by 2030 there are plans to send the first Egyptian astronaut to space.

EgSA has signed a MOU with the MVA-Egypt to organize public awareness and space outreach campaigns on social media, webinars with experts recognized worldwide, and develop smallsat mission proposals for EgSA to consider. This organization has over 40 volunteer Egyptian students and young professionals publishing high-quality articles in important conferences such as the International Astronautical Congress.

Last Saturday, I met some of the current and future Egyptian space professionals and I experienced their enthusiasm and commitment for space. It was a pleasure to hear about all the work they are doing and I can’t wait to hear more from Egypt’s space achievements.

EgSA: egsa.gov.eg

MVA: https://moonvillageassociation.org/

SGAC- Egypt: https://spacegeneration.org/regions/middle-east/egypt

Also, MVA and SGAC Egypt can be found on Facebook.