Intelsat has graduated another group of students in the second year of its STEM partnership with MaxIQ. Four groups of students from five African countries presented design concepts for satellites supporting the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals  on June 29.

Intelsat in coordination with MaxIQ (formerly Xinabox) provides students with the materials and connectivity they need to develop satellite design solutions addressing their choice of the 17 U.N. SDGs. MaxIQ was developed to serve the space industry in education and skill development, especially for young STEM students.

Established in 2015, The U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals serve as a global call to action that “provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future,” according to the U.N.

As part of Mission 1 of the space-focused learning experience, students attended weekly
workshops on Saturdays for four months, where they picked up skills to build into their projects.
“We are proud to partner with MaxIQ Space in Africa to build a pipeline of the next generation of satellite engineers,” Intelsat Sales Director for Africa Hans Geldenhuys said in his opening remarks before the presentations. “Sparking this tech interest at such a young age inspires future leaders who will soon lead the way with advancements that we would never dream possible.”

One group’s work, presented by Declan Saul, focused on Sustainable Cities and Communities.
Their satellite design solution proposed a plan to scan and rate every piece of land on four
factors: water availability, topography, resource availability, and health and climate.

Land segments would then get a score out of 100 regarding the land’s ability to support healthy dense residential development, data that could be used to make crucial decisions to maximize sustainable urban space in the future.

Another group presented a satellite concept aimed to address Taking Urgent Action to Combat Climate Change. Their satellite idea, presented by group members Tafara Mutero, Ruby McColloch, and Carine Mbokashanga, would utilize high-precision sensors to detect and monitor the amount of greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere, aiming to hold countries accountable to previously agreed upon standards that can be hard to enforce.

Throughout the presentations, audience members from Intelsat and MaxIQ submitted questions for the groups, which were answered live by students at the end of the event.

The program nearly doubled in size in the past year, with 31 students sponsored for Mission 1 this year compared to 16 last year. Mission 2 builds upon the experience from Mission 1 to take data collection to space. Intelsat sponsored nine students for Mission 2 last year and aims to include more as the program moves forward this year.

Year three of the STEM partnership will be announced in late Fall 2022.