South Africa

SGAC South Africa

National Points of Contact South Africa

Welcome to the SGAC South Africa page.

South Africa is considered and known to be one of the leading and pioneering African countries in everything space and astronomy. South Africa is also special due to its geographical situation which is an advantage for optical astronomy. The South African space industry is spearheaded by the South African National Space Agency (SANSA). Nonetheless the presence of SGAC in South Africa serves as a direct bridge for young South African space enthusiasts to connect with the global space industry and like-minded young space cadets from various nations worldwide.

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Young Space Activities Overview in the South Africa

In 2011, South Africa hosted the 10th annual Space Generation Congress (SGC) in Cape Town, South Africa which brought together 130 delegates from 42 countries. At the time, a Space Suit Walk was also held around Cape Town city centre to raise local awareness of events such as the SGC and IAC, but also space activities in South Africa more generally. Since then, the South African NPoC’s, and local space enthusiasts, have continued to organise annual and one-off events to both provide networking opportunities for the local space professionals and students, as well as to raise awareness more generally though outreach activities. Ongoing events include:

• Since 2017, annual Yuri’s night quizzes have been held in April to commemorate the first human to launch into space, Yuri Gagarin. This event has provided a fantastic way to get space enthusiasts together.
• Additionally, annual outreach events have also been organised during the World Space Week in October and these have included astronomy outreaches in rural KwaZulu-Natal to participating in the hosting of a Space Day which saw 300 learners from underprivileged schools treated to a full day of space related workshops and presentations in Stellenbosch to name but a few.
• Lastly, in 2019, a bimonthly (every two months) get together was started for students and space professionals in the Cape Town/ Stellenbosch area as a means of increasing networking opportunities.

If you have any ideas for other events/networking/ outreach opportunities, please let me know.

Interesting WebLinks

1. South African National Space Agency
2. University of Stellenbosch ESL Lab
3. Cape Town University SpaceLab
4. Cape Peninsula University of Technology FSATi program
5. South African Largest Telescopes 
6. South African Agency for Science and Technology Advancement 
7. South Africa Space Technology for Sustainable Development Foundation

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