The Africa Initiative for Planetary and Space Sciences
Abstract
Research groups in Planetary and Space Sciences (PSS) are now emerging in Africa, but remain few, scattered and underfunded. It is our conviction that the exclusion of 20% of the world's population from taking part in the fascinating discoveries about our solar system impoverishes global science. The benefits of a coordinated PSS program for Africa's youth have motivated a call for international support and investment [1] into an Africa Initiative for Planetary and Space Sciences. At the time of writing, the call has been endorsed by 230 scientists and 19 institutions or international organizations (follow the map of endorsements on https://africapss.org). More than 70 African Planetary scientists have already joined the initiative and about 150 researchers in non-African countries are ready to participate in research and in capacitity building of PSS programs in Africa. We will briefly review in this presentation the status of PSS in Africa [2] and illustrate some of the major achievements of African Planetary and Space scientists, including the search for meteorites or impact craters, the observations of exoplanets, and space weather investigations. We will then discuss a road map for its expansion, with an emphasis on the role that planetary and space scientists can play to support scientific and economic development in Africa. The initiative is conceived as a network of projects with Principal Investigators based in Africa. A Steering Committee is being constituted to coordinate these efforts and contribute to fund-raising and identification of potential private and public sponsors. The scientific strategy of each group within the network will be developed in cooperation with international experts, taking into account the local expertise, available equipment and facilities, and the priority needs to achieve well-identified scientific goals. Several founding events will be organized in 2018 in several African research centers and higher-education institutions to initiate this process. References: [1] Baratoux, D., et al. (2017) Africa initiative for planetary and space sciences, Eos, 98, https://doi.org/10.1029/2017EO075935. [2] Baratoux, D., et al. (2017) The state of planetary and space sciences in Africa, Eos, 98, https://doi.org/10.1029/2017EO075833.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2017
- Bibcode:
- 2017AGUFMED23B0294B
- Keywords:
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- 0850 Geoscience education research;
- EDUCATION;
- 0855 Diversity;
- EDUCATION;
- 6630 Workforce;
- PUBLIC ISSUES;
- 6699 General or miscellaneous;
- PUBLIC ISSUES