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.

On the 30th and 31st of March 2026, we held our inaugural National Finals at the University of Cape Town. Three companies of high school students competed in a two-day aerospace industry simulation, designing and presenting fully costed space settlements to a panel of engineering and aerospace judges. It was genuinely extraordinary. Eight students were selected from that event to become Team South Africa, and they will represent our country at the ISSDC at Kennedy Space Center in Florida this July.

I'm 19. I started this in my gap year with no institutional budget, no office, and no guarantee it would work. The National Finals happened. Team ZA exists. South Africa has earned its place on that competition floor.

Now we need to get them there.

This is where we need your help.

Flying eight South African students from Cape Town to Florida is not cheap. Flights, and travel logistics for a group of high schoolers add up quickly, and every rand we raise through this campaign goes directly towards making that trip a reality. We have the backing of our founding partners, 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 contributes to visa and documentation costs for a student. £20 covers a meaningful share of a student's competition registration. £50 brings us measurably closer to a seat on a plane to Florida. Every contribution, at any level, goes directly towards getting these eight young South Africans to Kennedy Space Center.

Every donation helps. Every share matters more.

These are students who gave up their weekends and evenings preparing, who stood in front of judges at UCT and held their own against every challenge thrown at them, and who now carry a South African flag into an international arena that this country has never entered before. They earned their place. We just need to get them on the plane.

South Africa has the talent and the tenacity. This 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 are fortunate enough to 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