By Dr. Sian Proctar
Several weeks before this edition of the African Youth Survey was published, I was in Kenya and South Africa talking to various groups of people, particularly the youth, about my own journey into space – and the journeys that await them.
It might seem a strange pursuit for Afro sceptics who still choose to see Africa at best as still in its development phase and at worst a continent without hope, especially since space is one of the costliest endeavours imaginable.
But the doomsayers and cynics would be wrong – as they are about so much else.
The civilianization of humanity’s last frontier brings with it not just the thrill of aspiration, but the very real tools that we need to resolve our issues right here on earth. Space travel is also no longer in the tight grasp of rival global superpowers, but well within the realms of ordinary mortals. We no longer need to dream it; we can all go to space and perhaps one day even settle on the moon or on Mars.
Africans have that right. It is not impossible. South Africa’s Mark Shuttleworth was Africa’s first astronaut, Egypt’s Sara Sabry was next; the first African woman and first Arab. Very shortly, the very first Nigerian astronaut, will go to space with SERA, the Space Exploration and Research Agency.
The space industry will be worth an estimated trillion dollars by the end of this decade, which Africa can participate in and benefit from – not by sending their own rockets but by working in collaboration with others. Humankind has never lived continuously on the moon or anywhere outside of Low Earth Orbit. To be able to do so requires us to be innovative.
There are great opportunities for universities, agencies and companies to work together to provide the necessary locales and help build analogue sites on Earth, like the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah in the US or the HI-SEAS Habitat in Hawaii, that can simulate the experiences on Earth that will be found on the Moon or Mars and in the process we can develop solutions together to living in areas where there is no easily accessible water – or too much radiation from the sun and intolerably cold; places where there is insufficient breathable air and managing resources and waste can be life or death.
It is one of the great, untold benefits of the new race to space: The route to the moon and from there to Mars is through addressing scenarios and creating solutions that will ultimately benefit Earth.
To get our astronauts of the future flight ready, to make sustainable life on the moon or Mars a reality rather than a possibility, we need to solve for space the most pressing questions facing Earth from climate change to the management of increasingly scarce resources.
It truly is a win-win situation underpinned by the Artemis Accords that guide countries to work together in a spirit of peaceful cooperation for the betterment of humankind. We are building a JEDI future together, one where access to space is Just, Equitable, Diverse, and Inclusive.
A JEDI future is premised upon going together and we have not even begun to scope the benefits, because the ripple effect of innovation and inspiration will evolve in ways we cannot begin to imagine.
Part of this process means increasing our STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education because the greatest growth in opportunity is going to occur in this area, directly with the scientists and engineers that are employed, the technicians that support them and indirectly through the entrepreneurs that find opportunities.
All we need to do is to inspire the youth. They do not need anyone’s permission to take part, they just need to know how to unlock their part in a future that can belong as much to them as everyone else in the world, which is why the African Youth Survey, and in particular, this edition is so important to changing the narrative.
Just as I have been on a mission to get people to understand the potential of space and their role in it, changing the narrative from an exclusionary state-based space race to a global opportunity, so too has the African Youth Survey changed the narrative about this continent and its next generation of leaders.
Africa must become flight ready to unlock its incredible potential. The AYS shows that the foundations are already there in the passion and determination among the youth to chart their own destiny.
It is up to us to help provide a pathway. The sky is no longer the limit now that we have the keys to explore the universe. It’s time to get flight ready, to be able to travel to infinity – and beyond.
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Dr Sian Proctor is the first woman in the world to become a commercial astronaut spaceship pilot as well as the first female African American woman to be a mission pilot. A visionary artist, futurist and professor of geology, Dr Proctor is also a US State Department science envoy for the civilian use of space. Follow her on X: or Instagram @drsianproctor