I’ve been to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center twice.

The first time, I was 17 years old, part of Team Africa, competing at the International Space Settlement Design Competition (ISSDC). It’s a 42-hour multidisciplinary engineering simulation where teams of students from across the world design, cost, and pitch a fully viable space settlement to a panel of industry judges. I served in Operational Engineering, leading the site selection for our lunar base in the Peary crater. We came runner up. I cried a little, but not for long, because I already knew I was coming back.

The second time, I was elected Systems Engineer of my company. I collaborated to build our compliance matrix, coordinated discussions between every department and worked through the night to meet the deadlines I was responsible for. In the end, we submitted something I was genuinely proud of with minutes to spare. I stood on the competition floor in awe of the brilliant people I was fortunate enough to be surrounded by, and came to this conclusion: more South African students need to be standing here with me.

That thought became the ZASDC.

The South African Space Design Competition (ZASDC) is South Africa’s first national chapter of the ISSDC network (the very competition that changed my life).

It’s a two-part challenge: a digital qualifier where school teams put themselves forward for selection, followed by a two-day National Finals at the University of Cape Town on the 30th and 31st of March 2026. 8 selected students become Team South Africa, and travel to compete in Florida, USA at the ISSDC in July 2026.

I’m 19 now. I started this in my gap year with no institutional budget, no office, and no guarantee that this will work. What I do have is an international affiliation with SSEF, the backing of the UCT Astronomy and Space Society, the guidance of former NASA engineers, and 32 students already registered with 19 more schools interested in forming a team.

And now is where I need your help.

Running a national competition isn’t free. Venue hire, event coordination, printing, logistics, materials for students who can’t afford them - it all adds up fast. The bigger dream (flying the winning team to Kennedy Space Center) costs even more.

We are in active conversations with corporate sponsors, but grassroots support from people who believe in what this is matters deeply. Not just financially, but symbolically. When a company asks me “does anyone actually care about this?”, I want to be able to point to this page and say: yes, here’s the proof.

If you donate £5, it covers printing costs for one student’s competition materials. £15 covers support for a student from a school that can’t afford the trip to Cape Town for Finals. £50 brings us meaningfully closer to sending some of South Africa’s best young minds to Florida in July. All funds will go directly to supporting and funding the ZASDC.

Every donation helps. Every share matters more.

I started this because I experienced firsthand what these space design competitions can do: the skills you build, the confidence you find, the global perspective you gain, and the doors that open when you’ve worked with some of the smartest people you’ve ever met. I want South African students to have that opportunity as well. Not just the ones at well-resourced private schools in Cape Town or Johannesburg, but students that don’t typically sit in the rooms where these opportunities are discussed. Students for whom university may not be considered an option, never mind engineering or STEM.

South Africa has the talent and the tenacity. ZASDC is about the access.

If you ever sat in a classroom and dreamed bigger than the room allowed, this is for those students.

Thank you for reading. Thank you for sharing. And if you can give, thank you for that too.

Jagger Cooper-Doubell

Founder | South African Space Design Competition (ZASDC)

Former ISSDC Competitor - Kennedy Space Center, 2024 & 2025

National Finals: 30–31 March 2026, University of Cape Town

ISSDC at Kennedy Space Center: July 2026