We had the privilege to enjoy an excellent presentation on Tuesday, the 24th of January, on The South African Space industry by Dr Francois Malan, our guest speaker as part of our regular Library Talks.
Usually topics addressed will be literature, philosophy, history, and even about travel and adventure. For this event, we transcended into space!
Dr Malan is an Applied Geophysicist, who has offered presentations at several national and international conferences, and on Tuesday also treated our residents here at The Somerset Lifestyle and Retirement Village in Somerset West, to a highly interesting, informative presentation on past and present developments in the space industry. Francois currently works at the Institute of Mine Seismology, specializing in tomography and imaging techniques.
It is of interest to know that over the past decades, South Africa has slowly made the transition from
an early government-led space pioneer to a small but respected player in the global commercial
space market. Many innovative companies in the Western Province carry this torch forward with
very capable scientists at the helm – and Dr Malan is one of them.
He functions in a diverse field regarding astronomy and is among colleagues in his field, very highly
thought of.
So for more than an hour, we were enlightened about the contribution of our local scientists to the
the recent launching of satellites, about recent global awards for their outstanding contributions such as
launching the first agriculture-focused satellite constellation in the world providing the agriculture
and forestry industry with high-quality data to support sustainable practices (built and launched by
the SA company Dragonfly Aerospace.)
We were informed about the various commercial uses of satellites. Our residents and guests also
contributed from their own interesting experiences in previous careers linked to the space industry.
It was a ‘spot-on’ topic and we could spend some wonderful time in the clouds.
While billionaires like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson, and South African Mark Shuttleworth
enjoy launching themselves into the upper atmosphere, the vast majority of humans will never go
anywhere near space.
Our library at The Somerset has a range of good books and DVDs, donated by residents, and is managed by residents. The library area also serves as a well-equipped conference room which is available to all residents via a booking system with the village manager.
To contact us at The Somerset, click here.
