The Egyptian Space Agency (EgSA) signed a cooperation protocol with the Egyptian Ministry of Education to develop capacity in space science and technology on 23 February 2022. The agreement was signed in the presence of the Executive President of EgSA, Dr Mohamed Al Qousi, and Deputy Minister of Education and Education, Dr Reda Hijazi. Furthermore, the event was scheduled to run in parallel with a workshop on how to operate and build satellites. The workshop was organised by EgSA’s engineers for students and teachers from Egyptian schools to develop the students’ capacity in space science and technology. 

In his remark, Dr Al Qousi revealed the details of the production of three artificial moon units (Kan Sat) for high school students, through which students can learn about satellite systems and their tasks, and how to launch, operate and get data from them. He further added that the moon unit “Kan Sat” is a simulator of a real artificial moon integrated into the size and shape of a gas can. Dr Al Qousi noted the idea of using simple components was to ensure that students can easily conceptualise and understand the functions of key sub-systems in the satellite such as energy systems, remote-sensing cameras, communication systems, among others. “The moon will be dropped from a few kilometres by a balloon or a small plane where the moon can descend slowly. The students will be able to communicate with the moon as it descends by sending orders to it and receiving data from it wirelessly from a small ground station to mimic what is done with the real moon”, Dr Al Qousi explained.

Dr Reda Hijazi commended the reception from the entire EgSA team during his tour around the agency’s facilities and equally applauded the agency for their continued effort of demystifying space for the youths in the country. He added that the collaboration with the EgSA is a further investment for the students, a great initiative supported by the Egyptian Minister of Education, Dr Tareq Shawky. The agreement is in tandem with the ministry and agency belief that human capital resources are the backbone of any sustained development in a country.

The  Vice-President of EgSA, Dr Mohamed Iraqi, promised that EgSA would transfer the “Kan Sat” experience to schools as a capacity development programme in Egypt as part of the cooperation protocol. Similarly, Dr Iraqi noted that the Agency seeks further assistance from the Ministry of Education to extend the capacity development programme to all science and technology schools to bring space closer to the entire Egyptian populace. 

The Director of the Kan Sat project, Dr Ahmed Faraj, made a presentation clarifying the stages of the formation of the Kan Sat, adding that the EgSA will intensify its efforts to organise intensive workshops for students and schools to train using their modern facilities. Furthermore, he assured that EgSA would seek to circulate this idea across all elementary schools after its success in advanced schools and as much as funding permits. 

Following the signing of the protocol, a workshop was held for five schools to train three science teachers from each school on satellite education, where each school was handed an artificial educational lunar unit. The training is within the framework of EgSA, in collaboration with state ministries and other stakeholders to support utilising research and educational programs to enhance the Egyptian space industry.