From Left to Right are: Dr Bettye Walker, DG Cozette Vergari, Chantal Mbala, Skylar Martin, Dene Castles, President Judy Delavigne, and Dr Hal Walker, President of the Cape Town Space Society, a Chapter of the National Space Society and the first on the African Continent.
SA teens become first African participants at the International Space Development Conference
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From Left to Right are: Dr Bettye Walker, DG Cozette Vergari, Chantal Mbala, Skylar Martin, Dene Castles, President Judy Delavigne, and Dr Hal Walker, President of the Cape Town Space Society, a Chapter of the National Space Society and the first on the African Continent.
Three South African high school pupils became the first people from Africa to participate in the International Space Development Conference held in the United States last month.
The trio, Dene Castle, Chantal Mbala and Skylar Martin combined for a research project on spacecraft propulsion and presented their ion drive experiment based on the “Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket” (VASIMR) to club members and guests in attendance on Wednesday, 30 May.
Various Rotary clubs funded their trip from Cape Town to Los Angeles, thanks to STEM director and Rotarian Bettye Walker and laser scientist Hildreth Walker.
Both women have been involved in projects promoting science and technology around Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town, and have mentored A-MAN South Africa Science Center project, which they founded in 2002.
Dr Hildreth Walker has proven pedigree in the science and technology field, particularly in space travel, as she was part of the team which put Neil Armstrong on the moon almost 40 years ago.
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The conference featured pupils from various countries across the world, including Japan, Turkey, India, and the United States, and also in attendance was Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos, who was honoured for his work on developing infrastructure that could help take humanity into space, through one of his companies, Blue Origin.
Science fact meets science fiction: Three happy people celebrate (and a lot more elsewhere). @JeffBezos announces at the #isdc2018 dinner that @Amazon will save @TheExpanseTV. After dinner jubilation follows. Here’s @Casanvar, @weschatham and the inimitable Jeff Bezos. pic.twitter.com/O6ZCejedJh
— ISDC 2018 (@ISDC) June 11, 2018
“We will have to leave this planet”: (Nearly) full transcript of @JeffBezos‘ cosmic chat at #ISDC2018. For Bezos’ views on cricket, you’ll have to go to 11:50 in embedded podcast: https://t.co/RJMOpkZcwS H/T @blueorigin pic.twitter.com/lbNBm609fC
— Alan Boyle (@b0yle) May 29, 2018
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