Students from TKS High School and Middle School had an exciting opportunity to take part in satellite-building workshops – delivered by SPACE.
This young start-up company, based in the UAE, is led by three ambitious entrepreneurs, who are experienced in satellite design, assembly, integration and testing. Some of their technology was included in Space42’s Thuraya 4 Geostationary satellite (built by Airbus), which was launched from Cape Canaveral on January 3, and will provide mobility solutions for defense, government, and enterprise customers.
SatKit is a cutting-edge learning program designed to upskill students (from Middle School up to University) in the dynamic field of satellite development. Students learn about the potential for satellite development as a career, and get to use their math, design, engineering, and physics skills to build a cube-satellite in a hands-on and engaging workshop. The plan is to upskill STEM teachers, to enable them to deliver SatKit’s content, and inspire learners to pursue careers in the space industry. However, as SPACE. is part of the Space Studio at KAUST, our school students were able to take part in a workshop led directly by two of the company’s founders – Abdullah Al Salmani and Abubaker Al Zubaidi.
Over the course of 2.5 days, students built a cube-satellite from scratch, including design, coding and construction. The workshop concluded with each team presenting their satellite. Students were impressed at their own skills, and are still talking about the experience… perhaps we now have some budding aerospace engineers!
Thanks to the KAUST Entrepreneurship Center for introducing us to the team from SPACE. and helping to make this amazing opportunity available to our students.
Photos from the workshop can be found here.