We are delighted to not only attend but as well participate at the Expo. We thank Kenya Space Agency for believing in us and giving us a platform to market ourselves and for the honorable mention during the expo’s summary of events, despite finding our mission kind of a dream. It is this dream that we intend to make a reality in our lifetime and we need all the support we can get.

The Kenya Space Expo & Conference held from 15-17 June 2022 and whose theme was “Leveraging Space Capabilities for National Development”, the event brought together industry players in an interactive forum that showcased current projects and innovations and provided an opportunity for linkages and collaboration. You can learn more about the event here.

As one of the industry players, we were delighted to not only attend but as well participate at the Expo. This being the inaugural space expo not only for the country but also for our organization, we had to come up with the best product to showcase.

The importance of a Mars Simulation Habitat as part of training and research for and by future Mars explorers cannot be under emphasized. A Mars Analog Research Station (MDRS) also known as a Mars Simulation Habitat is a project initiated in order to develop key knowledge needed to prepare for the human exploration of Mars.

The project’s goals are to develop field tactics based on environmental constraints (i.e., being required to work in spacesuits), test habitat design features and tools, and assess crew selection protocols. The location for this facility must therefore be as Mars-like as possible, from its terrain, climatic conditions and appearance.

Our goals and mission are to prepare the general public to support Humans-to-Mars and inspire more Elon Musks around the world, with the hope of one day we Kenyans being involved in terraforming the Red Planet.

An analog astronaut is an individual that decides to play the role of an astronaut during a simulated crewed mission. Depending on the study and environment, a different requirement could be applied for a candidate analog astronaut. But there is also what we call serendipitous analogs, which are these mission-like conditions that kind of happen by accident, usually when you’re doing something completely unrelated and this includes Antarctic exploration, submarines, jail populations and prison populations. The Space Expo can also be added into this list.

Nothing sounds better like the response we received from both the passersby and visitors at our stand. Each day had its own take out and we appreciate all who took time to visit our stand and offer words of advice and suggestions to things the organization should embark on.

The full report can be obtained here.