Thanks to the generous donation of a SGAC Alumnus, SGAC is pleased to announce the winners of the Nebula Award to attend the 11th Space Generation Fusion Forum (April 14-17, 2023) and the 38th Space Symposium (April 17–20, 2023), to be held in Colorado Springs, Colorado, U.S.A. !

Congratulations to all the winners!

 

Lily Rospeen Asongfac

Lily R. Asongfac is an Electrical and Electronic Engineer, a space enthusiast with skills in designing and analyzing space missions. She is SGAC’s newly appointed NPoC for Cameroon and has been contributing to the promotion of STEM since her undergraduate days by volunteering as an organizer and facilitator for events that promote the involvement of girls and youth in the field of technology, through ICT and computer programming and is now specifically supporting young students to gain interest in the space sector. Lily aspires to become a Space Systems Engineer, and has been contributing to the space industry in Africa, since 2019.

Lily is part of the Space Hero team, in charge of Global Strategic Partnerships. She has an interest in space education for children and founded the youths for sustainable space development (Y4SSD) society and the Aerospace Baby Project to fuel the space dream of more young people. She has also contributed as part of the organizing committee of the 5th and 6th African Space Generation Workshop.

 

“I couldn’t be more grateful, and I couldn’t be more excited to receive the Nebula Award. I have had the opportunity to continuously contribute to SGAC and getting this recognition means a lot to me!“

 

Nisanur Eker

Nisanur Eker is a Mechanical Engineer for the Munich-based space company DCUBED and a student pursuing her master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering at Technical University of Munich. Born and raised in Turkey, she moved to Germany to obtain her bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering. During her studies, she participated in her university’s student satellite project as both Head of Structure and Head of PR. She was part of organizing two stratospheric balloon flights testing the systems of the satellite and acquiring knowledge of the near-space conditions and its effects to educate fellow students. Currently she helps satellites unleash their full potential by developing deployables and also explores satellite-based solutions for the agriculture community. Nisanur‘s contributions to space was recognised with the Emerging Space Leaders Grant by International Astronautical Federation in 2022.

“I am honoured to be awarded the Nebula Award to attend the SGFF 2023. I am grateful for this opportunity to meet the next generation changemakers of the space industry in Colorado Springs.”

 

 Ahmed Abdi

My name is Ahmed Abdi. I am the founder of Africa Space Workshops (ASW) and previously has been the Africa Regional Partnerships Manager of Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC). As a former refugee I have even more appreciation for how space can benefit improving lives and bring innovation in emerging and non-space faring. Being actively involved for more than a decade in organising space workshops, it has always been my goal to advance space to regions and countries with little to no space activities, especially after attending space conferences in the past where such voices particularly in the African continent would not be heard or presented I got even more motivated to be actively involved in advancing space in Africa. For these reasons, I founded Africa Space Workshops (ASW) in late 2017. My ASW team and I have organised and participated in space workshops in Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Somalia and have many more African countries as well as emerging and non-space faring nations and regions planned to organise space workshops there. The vision I have in the medium to long term is to create a network of all those places I have organised space workshops to create an African space startup ecosystem where African space startups can be created and flourish. I hope with my experiences and background to add a new perspective to the Space Generation Fusion Forum and contribute.

“I am truly honoured to be awarded the Nebula Award to attend the Space Generation Fusion (SGFF) and Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, USA. I look forward to connect with like-minded space experts and enthusiasts as well as contribute my perspective and experience. Being part of SGAC has been a great privilege to be part of a passionate global space community dedicated to use space to improve the world.”