GGPEN Fellows Begin Training at Aerospace Valley, Spaceseed & Airbus

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Scholarship students from the Angolan National Space Management Office (GGPEN) have started their internship at prestigious companies in the space area, following the completion of the first part (theoretical and practical) of the master’s degree program which began in mid-September 2019, in Toulouse, France. The graduate study took place at one of the oldest and most renowned universities in the world in terms of space science and technology, ISAE-SUPAERO (Instituto Superior de Aeronáutica do Espaço).

The internship aims to apply the knowledge acquired during the first part of the training, and, at the same time, help the interns to gain professional experience with the leading players of the French Space Industry and the world.

The internship focuses on the Angosat-2 satellite and earth observation programs. Engineer Bevania Martins started her internship at the company Spaceseed, since May 4th this year. Engineers, Eldrige de Melo, Hugo Mateus, Marco Romero and Massala Nsungani, kicked off their placement on the 2nd of this month, at Airbus Defense & Space and Aerospace Valley. Engineer Aldair Gonçalves starts his internship on the 15th of this month, at Airbus.

Bevania Martins, Aldair Gonçalves, Hugo Mateus and Massala Nsungani are doing a master’s in Space Services and Applications. Whereas Eldrige de Melo is doing a master’s in Aerospace Project Management, and Marco Romero is doing a master’s in Space Systems Engineering.

The master’s program is to last from 14 to 18 months. It aims to transfer knowledge to Angolan staff on challenges that are framed in the national space strategy, which provides for the training of GGPEN staff at the highest level and, consequently, respond to its 2019-2022 strategic plan. The placement allows the interns to monitor the construction of the ANGOSAT-2, as well as follow the earth observation program.

It is worth mentioning that the training is at no cost to the Angolan Government, and is a result of a Russian bilateral compensation. The training is a result of a partnership between the Angolan State, through the Ministry of Telecommunications, Information Technologies and Social Communication, with the French company Airbus and Russia partners in the construction of the ANGOSAT-2 satellite and earth observation programs, in the scope of compensation from ANGOSAT-1.