Press

Rocket Scientist Launches Rocket Camp For Kids

Tanaka Chonyera has launched a free rocket boot camp for kids in Marion County, Indiana, through the Minority Engineering Program of Indianapolis. He pitched the idea to the nonprofit's board, which supported it with grant funding so students can participate at no cost. The program allows children to build and launch their own rockets while learning hands-on engineering skills.

Chonyera's interest in rocketry began in high school in Botswana, where he proposed building a rocket for a STEM competition despite limited resources and doubts from others. He later won an essay competition about satellites, which earned him a trip to French Guiana to watch a rocket launch. He says that experience cemented his passion for space.

Through the boot camp, students focus on safety, teamwork, and creativity, including designing unique paint styles for their rockets. Chonyera says he hopes to see 1,000 rockets launched from Indianapolis by the end of the year and is currently at about 80 participants. Families can contact the Minority Engineering Program of Indianapolis or reach out to Chonyera through social media to join the free program.

Source: WTHR. Photo: Christopher Sardegna / 500Px Plus / Getty Images. The Morning Rush wakes you up on 97.5 WCOS every weekday morning with Jonathon Rush and Kelly Nash.

MEPI High-Power Rocket Bootcamp with Fishers Maker Playground. Video segment page on fox59.com (Indy Now). The page carries the video player and the segment title; the segment itself is the live studio appearance with the City of Fishers, cross-aired on CBS4 Indianapolis. The rest of the captured page is Fox59's news rail and site navigation on the capture date. The segment is also on Fox59's YouTube channel (linked below), and the transcript is under "Watch the coverage" at the top of this page.

18 year-old Tanaka Chonyera wants to lead Zimbabwe to space

After coming tops in the essay category at this year's DStv Eutelsat Star Awards last month, Zimbabwe-born whiz-kid Tanaka Chonyera is ready to take the first steps towards achieving great feats in the aerospace field. Currently based in Botswana, where he and his family moved to in 2005, the young visionary, set to finish Advanced Level of school this year, is in the process of registering an aerospace patent, among other projects.

Speaking recently in a telephone conversation, Chonyera described winning the competition ahead of thousands of other entrants in the continent as a spring board "to get my voice out there." "This is stuff I am really passionate about and believe in, it is not just an idea, I'm a dreamer but I also put things into action," he said, adding that it was a step in the right direction towards achieving his childhood goals.

"I have such a backlog in my mind of ideas I want to bring into life and you know when successes like this happen, for me it just gives me more confidence and confirms that I am on to something." His ambitions have a solid impetus based on academic achievements, which include winning a multinational STEM competition for best rocket design in South Africa back in 2017.

Taking a cue from the United States' Apollo 11 spaceflight pioneering landing on the moon in 1969, Chonyera believes young Africans can pursue the aerospace field to change Africa's fortunes. "I do think that there is space for young people to implement their ideas as did NASA in the 1960s mission where most of those people were very young and without them there was no way we would have made it to the moon, so young people are vital for innovation," he said.

The world is Chonyera's oyster as he plans to create solutions for the purpose of helping "as many people as possible" starting with Africa generally and Zimbabwe in particular. "I would like Zimbabwe to be one of the big tech giants in Africa and I think there is an opportunity there. I do see a certain industry I would like to tap into that I think could help grow the economy significantly within the next decade or so," he said.

But, first he has to go through university and his fingers are crossed for a scholarship possibly to internationally reputable institutions like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Georgia Institute of Technology or California Institute of Technology, where he intends to major in aerospace engineering and minor in software as well as electrical engineering.

Tags: DStv, Zimbabwe.

Project card (both platforms): INDIANA. Encouraging careers in STEM. Helping students build and launch high-powered rockets. Project 01 of 210. World map with the Indiana pin highlighted.

Instagram caption: elilillyco: Lilly's Global Day of Service is a tradition that's been going strong for 19 years. Tens of thousands of Lilly team members across the globe are setting out-of-office... (carousel; the Indiana card is image 2; 920 likes, 55 comments, 34 shares, 82 saves at capture).

LinkedIn post: For the past 19 years, Lilly's Global Day of Service has always been about one simple goal: creating meaningful change in the areas where we live and work. Today, tens of thousands of Lilly team members across dozens of countries will step out of their workplaces and into community spaces as they participate in hands-on projects. Check out a few different ways we're making an impact all over the map. #WeAreLilly #LGDOS. Document carousel "Global Day of Service", 8 pages.

"Tanaka Chonyera, DStv Eutelsat star awards essay winner 2018, visiting the Guiana Space Center with Emmanuel Franc and Luca Chiecchio of Arianespace! (from left to the right)". Credit: Eutelsat. Uploaded on January 22, 2020. Taken on January 16, 2020. Posted by the Eutelsat Communications account.

Rocket Bootcamp. Date: Jul 18. Time: 10 am to 3 pm. Ages: 8+. Admission: Free. Build Your Own Rocket and Blast Off! (July 16 capture adds: THIS PROGRAM IS SOLD OUT.)

Don't miss the opportunity to build your own rocket at the Minority Engineering Program of Indianapolis High-Power Rocket Bootcamp! This is a free, hands-on aerospace program where young people do real engineering with their own two hands. Each participant becomes the engineer for the day, guided by Tripoli Rocketry Association and National Association of Rocketry-certified lead mentor Tanaka Chonyera. Together you'll build a complete, flight-ready rocket from the airframe up, including painting and personalizing the rocket to make it your own.

Participants can expect a welcoming, fast-paced, high-energy build station, staffed by Tanaka and volunteers. Every participant will leave with a rocket they built themselves and an invitation to fly it on Aug. 9th at a launch site in Muncie. A charter bus takes everyone to the field and back; pickup and drop-off location to be confirmed. No experience is needed, just curiosity!

The Minority Engineering Program of Indianapolis increases student knowledge, interest and engagement related to STEM studies and professional fields, with an emphasis on engineering and information technology. Meet our partners from Indiana529 and register for a chance to win $250 toward college savings.

Ticketing Info. July 14: Preregistration is strongly encouraged. Walk-ups are welcome the day of until 12 p.m., but space is limited to 15 participants. Youth ages 8-10 must be accompanied by an adult. July 16: Preregistration is strongly encouraged as space is limited to 15 participants. Youth ages 8-10 must be accompanied by an adult.

Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites, 650 W. Washington St., Indianapolis, IN 46204. 317.232.1637.

High-Power Rocket Boot Camp. The High-Power Rocket Bootcamp gives kids something most never get a chance to do: design, build, and launch their very own real rocket. Not a toy. Not a kit you assemble in 20 minutes. A serious, high-powered rocket capable of climbing thousands of feet into the sky.

Founded by Tanaka Chonyera, a certified Tripoli rocketry mentor, the program has trained more than 120 rocketeers (kids and adult volunteers alike) and is on a mission to reach 1,000 by the end of 2026. Every rocket built is theirs to keep. A family heirloom.

Quick Picture of the Camp. It's a free, hands-on bootcamp where kids design, build, and launch their own high-power rockets. Not the small model kind, but real, certified high-power rockets. Founder Tanaka Chonyera grew up building rockets in Botswana and began the camp in the Indianapolis area with one goal, to make this the city with the most rockets per capita in the world. The program is free for both students and volunteers.

Important Information. This bootcamp is free, but there is a refundable $25 registration fee. All camp activities will be hosted at Fishers Parks' Maker Playground facility at 8100 E. 106th Street, Fishers, IN 46038. 6 hours build day. 8 hours launch day.

Early August 2026 Session. Schedule: Build Day: 10 am to 5 pm, Sunday, August 2, 2026. Launch Day: Sunday, August 9, 2026 (hours TBD). Ages: 8+. Cost: Free. Location: Build Day: Maker Playground, 8100 E. 106th Street, Fishers. Launch Day: Muncie (location TBD). Fill out student form. Fill out volunteer form.

Maker Playground, 8100 E. 106th Street, Fishers, IN. Monday to Friday 10 am to 8 pm, Saturday 10 am to 5 pm.

Tanaka Chonyera, an engineer, is inspiring the next generation of innovators with his rocket boot camp in Indianapolis, Indiana. Chonyera fell in love with rocketry as a teen in Botswana and earned a degree in aerospace engineering from Michigan State University. At the camp, which is free to attend, students build and launch their own rockets while they learn engineering and teamwork. He hopes to help make the city a rocketry hub. "Space is the limit," Chonyera said. "And there is no limit in space."

"It's 12:00pm on a Wednesday afternoon and the skies over Kenya are crisp and clear. The Bateleur Super Heavy is ready for take-off. In 10, 9, 8...." Seconds later the rocket blasts off, arcing east over the great Congo River basin, breaking the sound barrier. The launch heralds another successful rocket launch from African soil.

This is the future envisioned by Tanaka Chonyera, the inspiring 19-year-old aerospace dynamo from Gaborone, Botswana, who last month returned from a once-in-a-lifetime trip to French Guiana to watch a rocket blast into space to place a satellite into orbit.

Tanaka was the standout winner in the essay category of the 2018 DStv Eutelsat Star Awards. A partnership between Eutelsat and MultiChoice Africa, the recently discontinued Star Awards aimed to stimulate interest in science and technology as well as to inspire innovative thinking among secondary and high school students, enriching young lives across the continent.

Tanaka's essay which was a response to the Star Awards' question on how humans can utilize satellites in a more efficient and useful way, proposed using satellites as refuelling stations, as electromagnetic inductors, or as giant solar farms beaming energy back to earth saving the finite land we have available. In Tanaka's essay he displayed an extremely in-depth understanding of the world of satellites and more importantly, a passion for not only astronomy but for providing solutions which will benefit the human race.

As the category winner, Tanaka was whisked off to Paris for, among others, a tour of the Eiffel Tower, still considered one of the greatest engineering feats of our time, followed by a visit to French Guiana for a live rocket launch.

"Seeing a 60m tall rocket launch is mind-blowing. It's like staring into the sun. It's quiet for five to 10 seconds, then you hear this thunderous roar, then everything starts shaking and you feel the vibrations in your body even though the launch pad is 5km away. I can't even describe it. These are the most powerful vehicles humanity has ever built, and to see one launch is truly life changing," Tanaka gushes, recounting his trip that marked the culmination of the eighth and final edition of MultiChoice's DStv Eutelsat Star Awards.

More than just a sight-seeing adventure, Tanaka rubbed shoulders with visionary thinkers who, like him, want to change the world, starting with Africa. From CEOs with aspirations to revolutionise African internet connectivity, to rocket scientists who engaged the budding aerodynamicist over technical subjects such as electrical compulsion and the challenge of managing space debris, Tanaka peered through the wormhole at his future... and is completely hooked.

"I have loved rocketry my whole life. It's the classic story of the kid who breaks things down just to build them up again. At eight years old, I tried to make a rocket out of baking soda and vinegar. It blew up in my face, but ignited my lifelong obsession with rockets and space. By nine years old I was reading my sister's physics books, and by 10 I had conceptualised the name of my aerospace agency, complete with its own logo, and decided which subsidiary companies I would launch under this umbrella venture to fund an aerospace programme for Africa.

"I have since launched all these companies, and following this trip to Paris, am more dedicated than ever before to pioneering a space revolution in Africa. Yes, we make satellites here on the continent, but we don't make rockets and we don't launch them. There are plenty of excellent destinations from which to launch rockets, like Kenya, which is on the equator so you get the speed boost of the earth's rotation, and has plenty of useable land. There is no reason why we as Africans shouldn't be doing this ourselves. The resources are there, the expertise is there. It just needs one person to bring it all together. I plan to be that person. I am going to pioneer spaceship building and rocket launches from Africa," Tanaka says seriously, acknowledging that there are not enough positive African role models in science and technology.

This is fuelling his drive to additionally position himself as a source of inspiration for his generation in science and tech innovation in Africa, for he is equally passionate about the untapped potential of Africa and Africans.

He wants to inspire Africans to be proudly African and to reach for the stars knowing that they can be anything they want to be. As a continent, we no longer need external validation or others' leads to follow. We can, and should, carve our own paths.

"I have a vision to build cutting-edge research facilities in Africa, like our own particle accelerator, and to start my own non-profit preschool, primary school, high school and university that encourage free thinking and questioning the status quo of everything we think we know. I also want to open a technology centre for Africa's brightest minds to stretch the limits of their innovative and creative thinking, and bring to life those ideas that only exist in their heads. So many people have great ideas to help society but there is no funding. I want to secure that funding to encourage innovation among young Africans because honestly, I think amazing work will come out of that," he says, emphasising the incredible potential that exists for greater self-sufficiency in Africa, especially in the area of renewable resources.

Not even the sky is the limit for this ambitious Maru-a-Pula High School graduate. He is about to embark on his university studies in aerospace engineering, which he will complete while running his existing telecoms and solar power businesses to raise funds for his African space agency dream. Winning the DStv Eutelsat Star Awards has cemented Tanaka's path and the visionary change he will bring to Africa, reflecting MultiChoice Africa's objective of using science and technology to enrich African lives.

"This was a once-in-a-lifetime shot, especially being the last edition of the awards," Tanaka says. "It has literally changed my life. I know now for a fact, anything is possible. I'm going to achieve every single one of my goals. It's going to be an exciting journey, one which has already started thanks to MultiChoice Africa and Eutelsat."

It has been a couple of days since Botswana's very own Tanaka Chonyera was crowned the winner of the 8th edition of the DStv Eutelsat Star Awards competition.

The 18-year-old, a Maru-a-Pula student won in the essay competition category, convincing the judges. He knew his writing stuff as well as the subject matter very well.

Oozing with passion and knowledge for his subject, remarks Paolo Nespoli, an ESA (European Space Agency) Astronaut who chaired the adjudication of the awards, the young man has blended his passion with research and study.

"This has resulted in sound knowledge and understanding of the subject matter," he said.

Since inception the competition has drawn over 8000 entries from the region, and East Africa has produced 7 overall winners and runner-ups. For this edition, students from senior secondary or unified schools were asked to write a creative essay or design a poster based on the topic: "Currently, satellites are being used in a variety of ways but there is always room for expansion and growth. Write an essay or design a poster on areas you believe the full potential of satellites has not yet been tapped into or embraced."

Priscilla Marealle of Tanzania was crowned the winner of the poster category. For Tanaka, the wait to the big announcement of the winner was a nerve wrecking one. There was even a point when he thought that he didn't make it, only for him to realise that it was previous winners and not the 2019 winners who were being posted online.

Walking through the grounds of his school, where he is currently enrolled for Form 6, it is evident to see that his peers respect him. His friends are patting him on the back, and celebrating with him this big achievement that will open many doors for him. His family is equally excited that finally after all these years, his passion has paid off.

Chonyera wins a trip for two to Paris and is happily taking his mother along. His other prizes include going to witness a rocket blast into space in order to place a satellite into orbit.

The winner in the poster category wins a trip for two to visit the South African National Space Agency and MultiChoice facilities. The two winning schools attended by the overall winners will be rewarded with a DStv installation, including a dish, TV set, PVR decoder and free access to the DStv Education Package.

He tells this publication that since the big announcement last week, it has been a crazy couple of days.

"I am ecstatic," he tells Style.

Sharing the events of the past couple of days, he explains that he got a call from Nespoli, and thought that it was just a formality. In his mind, he thought that Nespoli was just calling the top three. The night before the winner was announced it was nerve wrecking and he barely slept. On the day that he was announced the winner, the internet was not at its happiest moments, it kept buffering, and that meant he was unable to properly watch the live streaming on Facebook. "This opportunity will open a lot of doors for me. It has also given me confidence in myself that if I want to do something, I know that I can get it done," he says, explaining that he wrote the award-winning essay on his own.

He points out that prior to the win, whenever he suggested something, no one took him seriously, but now things have changed as his opinion is more valuable. He now wants to study Aerospace Engineering at one of the top universities at either Massachusetts or California. He explains that ever since he was a child, he has been dreaming about building a space ship. "I love space and space technology. And I want to do it for Africa, as right now I don't think there is a country in the continent that has a significant Aerospace programme. I want to see a rocket being launched in Africa," he explains. His mother, Florence Chonyera, is equally excited.

"We have always supported him and all of his ideas," says his mother explaining that he previously won at a competition called Lebone Derby in South Africa. "Parents should never pour cold water over their children's interests but should keep encouraging them," she says. According to Thembile Ndzinge, who is the Corporate Affairs Manager of MultiChoice Botswana, this is Botswana's first win in the essay category, after producing a runner-up in the poster category in 2016. The runner-up was a student at Lotsane Senior Secondary School.

"This shows that we have extremely talented children," she says.

She also says that it was equally exciting to note that the competition was won by someone who was passionate about the subject, and was not just entering for the sake of winning. "This makes the prize even more special," she explains, highlighting that the awards belong to Africa, and not just a specific region. She points out that from all the submissions in Botswana, his was very special. "All the essays were great. But with his, you could feel the passion, and he articulated the topic well," she says.

The 8th edition of the DStv Eutelsat Star Awards has once again crowned two new continental overall winners!

Botswana's Tanaka Chonyera scoops top honours in the essay category. Priscilla Marealle makes it a back-to-back win for Tanzania in the poster category.

Accra, 13 February 2019. The winners of the 8th edition of the DStv Eutelsat Star Awards were announced today during a ceremony held in Accra, Ghana. Eighteen-year-old Tanaka Chonyera has put Botswana on the map by scooping top honours in the essay category. Nineteen-year-old Priscilla Marealle was announced as the overall winner in the poster category, making it a back-to-back win from Tanzania.

Tanaka's entry was written in a confident, concise and factual manner and made for an intriguing, engaging and educational read. "It was quite clear that he has cultivated his passion with research and study, that has resulted in sound knowledge and understanding of the subject matter," says Paolo Nespoli, an ESA (European Space Agency) Astronaut who chaired the jury of the Awards. This is what the jury members said about Priscilla's poster: "The poster was artistically well executed, with imaginative use of mixed media to create visual interest. Consistent with the topic, the poster depicts how satellite can be further embraced in Africa to address key continental challenges, such as protection and monitoring of biodiversity, agriculture and mineral resources."

During her keynote speech at the Awards ceremony, the Hon. Patricia Appiagyei, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Environment, Science Technology and Innovation said "It is our ministry's pleasure to be part of this exemplary initiative by two technology-oriented companies to inspire the learning and application of Science and Technology in everyday activities. Our ministry is at the fore-front of promoting a paradigm shift in the way we approach our developmental issues as a country and more broadly as a continent. Having reviewed some of the topics from previous competitions of the DStv Eutelsat Star Awards, we are elated by the myriad of young African minds across our continent that are tasked to use satellite technology to address basic human challenges on our continent."

This pan-African competition has invigorated a passion for science and technology amongst younger generations and will culminate with an outreach where over 200 Ghanaian students have an opportunity to ask a real-life astronaut questions about outer space. To date the competition has drawn over 8000 entries across the continent and has over the years created meaningful engagement with students, the academic community and the scientific world. Sixteen overall winners' horizons have been broadened by the once-in-a-lifetime experiences the competition has afforded them.

The winner in the essay category has won a trip for two to Paris and onwards to a launch site in French Guiana to witness a rocket blast into space in order to place a satellite into orbit. This is Botswana's first win in the essay category, after producing a runner-up in the poster category in 2016. East Africa continues its dominance of the Awards with 7 overall winners and runner-ups thus far. The winner in the poster category has won a trip for two to visit the South African National Space Agency and MultiChoice facilities. The two winning schools attended by the overall winners will be rewarded with a DStv installation, including dish, TV set, PVR decoder and free access to the DStv Education Package.

For this edition, students from secondary (high) or combined schools were asked to write a creative essay or design a poster based on the topic: "Currently, satellites are being used in a variety of ways but there is always room for expansion and growth. Write an essay or design a poster on areas you believe the full potential of satellites has not yet been tapped into or embraced."

All details on the judging criteria, national prizes and finalists' selection are available on the DStv Eutelsat Star Awards website: http://www.dstvstarawards.com/about.html. Join our Facebook community and get exclusive updates and inspiration: fb.me/DStvEutelsatStarAwards.

Topics: Telecom; Radio, TV; Electronic business, communication; Innovations, inventions; Network products; Telecommunication, mobile telephony.

About MultiChoice Africa: MultiChoice Africa is a video entertainment provider, and our role is to enrich lives. Our mission is to deliver value to our customers by making great entertainment more accessible to millions of people across Africa, anytime, anywhere via multiple platforms including Direct-To-Home satellite (DTH) platform DStv (www.dstv.com), a Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) platform GOtv (www.gotvafrica.com) as well as Video-On-Demand and OTT platforms Showmax and DStv Now. (Boilerplate continues on the Eutelsat page.)

Botswana and Tanzania students win DStv Eutelsat Star Award

The winners of the 8th edition of the DStv Eutelsat Star Awards were announced today during a ceremony held in Accra, Ghana. Eighteen-year-old Tanaka Chonyera has put Botswana on the map by scooping top honours in the essay category. Nineteen-year-old Priscilla Marealle was announced as the overall winner in the poster category, making it a back-to-back win from Tanzania.

Tanaka's entry was written in a confident, concise and factual manner and made for an intriguing, engaging and educational read. "It was quite clear that he has cultivated his passion with research and study, that has resulted in sound knowledge and understanding of the subject matter," says Paolo Nespoli, an ESA (European Space Agency) Astronaut who chaired the jury of the Awards.

This is what the jury members said about Priscilla's poster: "The poster was artistically well executed, with imaginative use of mixed media to create visual interest. Consistent with the topic, the poster depicts how satellite can be further embraced in Africa to address key continental challenges, such as protection and monitoring of biodiversity, agriculture and mineral resources."

Hon. Patricia Appiagyei, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Environment, Science Technology and Innovation was the keynote speaker at the Awards ceremony and said "It is our ministry's pleasure to be part of this exemplary initiative by two technology-oriented companies to inspire the learning and application of Science and Technology in everyday activities. Our ministry is at the fore-front of promoting a paradigm shift in the way we approach our developmental issues as a country and more broadly as a continent. Having reviewed some of the topics from previous competitions of the DStv Eutelsat Star Awards we are filled with elation by the myriad of young African minds across our continent that are tasked to use satellite technology to address basic human challenges on our continent."

This pan-African competition has invigorated a passion for science and technology amongst the younger generation and will culminate with an outreach where over 200 Ghanaian students have an opportunity to ask a real-life astronaut mind blogging questions about space. To date the competition has drawn over 8000 entries across the continent and has over the years created meaningful engagement with students, the academic community and the scientific world. Sixteen overall winners' horizons have been broadened by the once-in-a-lifetime experiences the competition has afforded them.

The winner in the essay category wins a trip for two to Paris and onwards to a launch site in French Guiana to witness a rocket blast into space in order to place a satellite into orbit. This is Botswana's first win in the essay category, after producing a runner-up in the poster category in 2016. East Africa continues its dominance of the Awards with 7 overall winners and runner-ups thus far. The winner in the poster category wins a trip for two to visit the South African National Space Agency and MultiChoice facilities. The two winning schools attended by the overall winners will be rewarded with a DStv installation, including dish, TV set, PVR decoder and free access to the DStv Education Package.

For this edition, students from secondary (high) or combined schools were asked to write a creative essay or design a poster based on the topic: "Currently, satellites are being used in a variety of ways but there is always room for expansion and growth. Write an essay or design a poster on areas you believe the full potential of satellites has not yet been tapped into or embraced."

Tags: Botswana, Tanzania.

DStv Eutelsat Star Awards, Creating Space For African Ideas. Navigation: How to enter, All you need to know, Resources, FAQ; The competition, About, Winners; Media, Gallery, Videos, Partners presentations, Press releases; Contacts.

DStv Eutelsat: The Winners. Best overall Essay: Amos Mumbere, Tanaka Chonyera. Best overall Poster: Rasheed Taher, Priscilla Marealle.

Best overall Essay 2018: Tanaka Chonyera. Tanaka is an 18 year old student studying mathematics, chemistry, physics and computer science at Maru-a-Pula in Botswana. With a diverse range of interests, his biggest passion lies around rockets. His other hobbies include swimming, reading and robotics. The sensation of being suspended in water makes him feel weightless and has helped build his endurance. Through his fondness for reading books, Tanaka has been able to explore numerous worlds which in turn have fuelled his creative ideas. The world of robotics has allowed him to channel and develop these ideas and artistic abilities. Tanaka has won national and international awards through his pastimes. Tanaka is the boy who is dreaming out loud!

Best overall Poster 2018: Priscilla Marealle. Priscilla is a 19 year-old science student in her final year at St. Mary-Goreti Secondary School in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. Her principal subjects include physics, chemistry and mathematics. Priscilla is our continental winner of the 8th Edition of the DStv Eutelsat Star Awards. Her wonderful artistic poster was perfectly executed, presenting a brilliant depiction of mixed media creating a visual experience which she titled "Satellites beyond elites". She is also a Bronze Medallist of the Africa Open Championships 2018 and has high aspirations to eventually one day become an amazing Architect.

DStv · Eutelsat · ©Eutelsat 2019 | Privacy Policy

DStv Eutelsat Star Awards. Navigation: How to enter, All you need to know, Resources, FAQ; The competition, About, Winners; Media, Gallery, Videos, Partners presentations, Press releases; Contacts.

About. If you can dream it you can win it!

The DStv Eutelsat Star Awards, which are a product of a partnership between Eutelsat and MultiChoice Africa, aim to stimulate interest in science and technology and to inspire innovative thinking among secondary and high school students across the continent.

The awards take the form of a competition open to 14-19 year-old students in 42 countries. Students are invited to write an essay or design a poster depicting how innovative use of satellite technology in the fields of communication, earth observation or navigation can propel Africa into the future.

Top entrants at the national level win prizes such as computers or tablets, and go forward to compete in the overall awards for the winning and runner up essay and poster prizes.

The overall winning entries will receive prizes as follows:

Overall Essay Award: A trip for the winning student and their parent/legal guardian to Eutelsat in France and attendance of a rocket launch.

Overall Poster Award: A trip for the winning student and their parent/legal guardian to the MultiChoice offices and the South African Space Agency at Hartbeesthoek.

The schools attended by the overall award winners and runners-up are rewarded with a DStv installation, including dish, television, state-of-the-art PVR decoder and free access to the DStv Education Bouquet.

DStv: So much More · Eutelsat Communications · ©Eutelsat 2017 | Privacy Policy

The winner of the 2018 DStv Eutelsat Star Awards essay competition is Maru-a-Pula School (MaP) student Tanaka Chonyera (18). Selected from thousands of entries, Tanaka has won a once-in-a-lifetime trip for two to Paris, in the company of Eutelsat. Tanaka will then travel to French Guiana to witness a rocket launch into space.

At the DStv Eutelsat Awards ceremony held in Accra, Ghana, on February 13th, Tanaka's winning essay was described as reflecting "a deep, free-thinking passion and commitment to space science and technology."

Explaining what led him to enter the contest, Tanaka noted "I love everything to do with space and space technology. When I found out about this competition I thought to myself: 'Finally, this is something for me.' If there's anything you're passionate about you should go for it."

Since 2011 the competition has inspired over 7,000 essays and made the dreams of 24 students from across the continent come true. The contest continues to inspire young Africans to become exposed to, involved in and excited about science and technology concepts, and satellite technology in particular.

Contestants chose between designing a poster and writing an essay on the topic: "Currently, satellites are being used in a variety of ways but there is always room for expansion and growth. Write an essay or design a poster on areas you believe the full potential of satellites has not yet been tapped into or embraced."

Tanaka's essay opens with this paragraph: We started with gunpowder sticks whizzing around the air scaring off enemies in China and now we have a 418,000 kg giant hunk of metal whizzing around the earth at Mach 23! How crazy is that? Satellites are one of the pinnacles of human achievement, the technological marvels that constantly fall towards earth but miss every time. They enrich our lives by providing new ways to communicate; they predict weather phenomena like magic and they even spy on each other. They do all these things, but there's so much more that they're capable of and I'm not going to wait around for someone or some organization to make better use of them. I'm going to do it myself. Let me tell you how.

Tanaka goes on to present his bold ideas, that, as he admits, sometimes err in the "realm of science fiction." His creativity prompted award presenter, Paolo Nespoli, a European Space Agency astronaut, to comment: "We had to call him because we were not sure if he was crazy or the next Nobel prize winner. We actually put our money on the second one, so that's good!"

Tanaka is in his sixth year at Maru-a-Pula, an independent day and boarding secondary school in Botswana. The School values assertiveness, especially in the service of curiosity, encouraging its students to ask "Why?" and more essentially "Why not?"

It was at Maru-a-Pula where Tanaka made numerous attempts to launch a rocket propelled by a mixture of sugar, water and potassium nitrate. Things didn't always work out. Tanaka says, "I think it's very important to fail, especially failing differently each time, because I know that each time I fail I get closer to success." And as he mentions in his essay, Tanaka finally did achieve vertical propulsion for his rocket, winning Maru-a-Pula first place in a STEM competition.

The DStv Eutelsat Star Awards are open to all students, aged 14 to 19, from secondary (high) or combined schools on the continent where MultiChoice Africa maintains operations. Entries are accepted in English, French or Portuguese and will be judged on the basis of the criteria of accuracy, creativity, originality and innovation. Entry forms for the 2019 competition can be obtained from any MultiChoice Resource Centre, the nearest MultiChoice office or via www.dstvstarawards.com.

Click here to read a copy of Tanaka's award-winning essay. (The essay is reproduced on this site under Writing.)