Ayooluwa Adetola

South Africa's leading space companies, NewSpace Systems, CubeSpace, Simera Sense, and CubeCom, together with the South African National Space Agency (SANSA), recently hosted Space Day 2025 on September 9, 2025.

Space in Africa, in collaboration with the African Space Agency and the Agence Gabonaise d'Etudes et d'Observations Spatiales (AGEOS), a Gabonese Agency, under the auspices of the Presidency of the Republic of Gabon and the Ministry of Digital Economy, Digitalisation and Innovation (MENDI), is organising the

In just a few years, the NewSpace Africa Conference has become the single most influential platform shaping the business, policy, and partnerships driving Africa's space ecosystem.

The global space community gathered in Sydney for the 76th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2025), held from 29 September to 3 October 2025.

Over the past few years, the NewSpace Africa Conference has evolved beyond a gathering of industry leaders; it has become the continent's most active dealmaking hub for space and satellite partnerships.

The African upstream space sector is being built by founders, engineers, and entrepreneurs designing satellites, developing propulsion systems, and building capabilities across satellite systems, launch technologies, and critical infrastructure across the continent, often with limited resources and against considerable odds. With this new generation of startups moving beyond concept-stage innovation to the design, development, and early deployment of space technologies, the NewSpace Africa Startup Pitch Competition 2026 aims to spotlight emerging companies, amplify their work, and connect them with investors, partners, and decision-makers who can accelerate their growth.

With the African space economy projected to grow to USD 22.64 billion by 2026, the continent is witnessing an unprecedented expansion in satellite infrastructure, earth observation capabilities, commercial space ventures, and national space programmes, driven by increasing investments, expanding satellite infrastructure, and a rising generation of of scientists, engineers, policymakers, and entrepreneurs shaping the continent's future in space. As Africa deepens its participation in the global space economy, the need to recognise, support, and amplify the contributions of emerging talent has become both strategic to the long-term development of the continent's space ecosystem and essential to long-term development.