SPACE BOOT CAMP
- Paper ID
61678
- author
- company
Kenya Space Agency (KSA)
- country
Kenya
- year
2021
- abstract
INTRODUCTION Kenya as a country is slowly rising from the dust in terms of its involvement in the Space industry. This comes at a very good time when organizations and institutions in the country are gradually positioning themselves in various fields within the space industry. One such organization is the MARS SOCIETY KENYA; a non-profit organization aimed at informing the general public of the importance of taking care of the environment (in this case - Mars) and with a dream of one day being part of the solution as humankind on Mars will be involved in terraforming the 'Red Planet'. Although to a country in its infancy in regards to venturing in space this can be seen to be a moonshot, having such a goal first and then working backwards through the measures we as a country need to take in order to achieve this goal is surely the best way to go as we advance our presence in the Space above and beyond. MARS SOCIETY KENYA is in the process of establishing a Mars Habitat Simulation Programme / Research Station to be set up in the country (in a remote region, probably in the furthest parts of Turkana County in Northern Kenya), where the citizens and any other willing party can practice and experiment on a Martian-like environment, even as we purpose to eventually have a human presence on Mars. Space is definitely hard; it requires a lot of care, precision and perseverance. We will indeed need to start low and work our way up. But Focusing on the return on investment helps justify the revitalization of the space port. This is just my opinion because we all know Kenya is beyond knowledgeable and capable to operate the center but may need a kickstart to start operations. Space Boot Camp This will be the entry level and it will be open to the general public regardless of one’s demographic status. Setting up the boot camp will depend on the nature of the agreement. The camp will have the necessary infrastructure required to train astronauts. It will also make use of STEM education and its benefits to the Space industry. Membership will be in two ways; general and special. General membership will accommodate people from all walks of life who want to have fun at the camp and will be free of charge. Special membership on the other hand will be for those who want to get certified. For this package, attendees will have to part with some amount of money, which can be used to support their training in terms or resources. Upon completion, special members will be tested at various levels and only those who show extra ordinary performance will be selected for internship at the space port. The purpose for this is to raise our own team that understands the dynamics at the port and are passionate to see the success of any project they will be working on. The attendees will be allowed to test various theories and come up with possible solutions to the problems, especially those being faced at the space port. They however will not be allowed to test the large-scale final copy of a specific test but will share the information with the space port which will decide how to go about the problem.