Abdelkader Hamdani

Moroccan astronomer leading Africa's first satellite program and STEM education initiatives for girls

Abdelkader Hamdani is Morocco's preeminent astrophysicist and director of the Ouargla Astronomical Observatory, where he pioneered the Mohammed VI-B satellite project - Africa's first homegrown scientific satellite launched in 2021. His team's discovery of the 2023 MO near-Earth asteroid in 2023 placed Morocco among global leaders in planetary defense. Hamdani co-founded Girls in Astrophysics, a network training 1,500 African girls annually in STEM through virtual labs and rocketry workshops. His UNESCO-endorsed curriculum has been adopted in 22 African education systems. Hamdani also established the Astronomy for Peace initiative, using stargazing programs to foster cross-border collaboration between Moroccan and Sahrawi youth. His recent partnership with SpaceX enables real-time data sharing between African observatories and the James Webb Space Telescope.