Faces in Satellite: Rania Toukebri Looks to Democratize Space

Photo: Rania Toukebri

This article is part of a new series, in which Via Satellite interviews people in the industry at different points of their careers, with a focus on career decisions-making, and what they are looking for in terms of developing a career in the satellite and space industry.

Rania Toukebri is an aerospace engineer, who was really recently featured in a Space in Africa article, Top 10 Under 30 in the African Space Industry. Toukebri is certainly one to watch and one of the new generation of engineers in the space industry. Toukebri was born in the Tunisian coastal town of Monastir, and went to Europe in her early 20s where she studied in Paris and Amiens. She is now based in Munich.

Toukebri says that her interest in space started from childhood, and that she started considering it as a career option after observing the deep space missions and studying the technologies behind them.

“It linked to my passion to space with my technical capabilities as a systems architect. I started my first steps by building a 1U cubesat for the QB50 constellation. Two years later I started working for the big satellites systems and subsystems within the private sector for projects managed by the European Space Agency (ESA). The more I observed the potential growth of the space sector and its influence on global economic growth, the more my interest grew in this field,” she says.

One of the big issues right now for the industry is not just acquiring new talent, but keeping existing talent engaged and energized. When looking at potential companies to work for, Toukebri says that any prospective company should have a clear program listing the short, middle and long-term objectives. She says it should have efficient management to direct the human/technical resources in order to develop the products and services in the requested time.

“The company should be investing in research and be linked to academia in order to have technology fitting the market’s needs and focused on the sustainable development of technology. Innovation is considered as a major key to develop both employee knowledge and company capacities. The monotony of work can easily kill the motivation of the employees and make the company take steps backwards,” she says.

Yet in a way, Toukebri said she is already working her dream job. She wants to be a part of developing and creating new generations of spacecraft. “We need to improve our instruments and on-board computers that we process data from. We have to try and find better architectures for rovers, satellites, or any type of robot in outer space. So, this is the thing I would like to do. I want to have an improved, harmonized, secure management of resources in outer space,” she added.

In terms of what she looks for in terms of company culture, she believes motivation and aligning company mission and goals with personal goals is key. She believes a company culture is all about the ability to work efficiently and helping the individual grow.

“It is important to consider what a company does, its mission, and how it represents itself and what a company represents in the form of technologies, products, publications, processes, location and work environment. Choosing a company depends on these factors as well,” says Toukebri.

Toukebri believes the space industry is still struggling to attract skilled workers and that a stronger startup culture, as well as governments building more space programs will be key to attracting more talent.

She also speaks of the growing importance of attracting people from different backgrounds to respond to the needs of the market, develop technology, work on space policies, improve security, space medicine, astrobiology, the planets’ geology and even space art.

“All these jobs are complementary to create the space industry. The more we go deeper in space the more jobs we need and opportunities grow. However we should consider that space technology is becoming more mature with time, allowing growing opportunities for young engineers and researchers,” she says.

She believes space does not only affect space-faring countries, but it is also important for emerging countries. Another ambition of hers is to help develop the space industry in Africa and Tunisia to produce products and services in space. She is the current regional coordinator of Africa in Space Generation Advisory Council In Support of the United Nations Programme on Space Applications. She has been previously the National Point of Contact of Tunisia in the SGAC as well.

“I want to help them create their own space market, so they have space programs that are adapted to their own needs. So, they can help in areas of food, water, security etc. So, enabling countries to have more control of certain areas,” she says.

Toukebri talks of more space agencies and private companies getting involved in major global projects and more countries getting involved in developing space products and services. “We have more opportunities not only in mature markets like Europe and the U.S., but also potential raw ones in Africa and the Middle East,” she says.

One of Toukebri’s aims is help in the process of democratizing space. She says this is not only the work of governments or universities, but the work of a whole community of engineers, government, society.

“We have to communicate better and raise awareness, to talk about space and make it more democratized. Space is very new to a lot of people. It is not a luxury industry anymore. It is impacting their daily lives. We have to improve daily lives. I would really love to support Tunisians, and have official courses so people could learn about the different parts of space in general, in terms of technology, space law, business. All of these things are the things we need to start teaching,” she says.

Toukebri is part of a new movement of engineers, and she believes we are in the middle of a ‘space renaissance’ and that space activities are expanding with the exponential increase of technological progress, governance, accessibility, and inclusiveness forming a global space society. She believes space is playing a major role in key global issues, such as improving security, global sustainability.

“Space is now answering major questions about the universe, the possibility of life outside of earth and the way to expand humanity outside of earth, things we have considered back in time as science fiction and concerned most of humans on earth,” she says. “From a market perspective, we can take advantage by opening access to more players, and allowing international and cross-sector collaboration in several areas to make these advances faster and more efficient. Young generations should be included in discussions allowing fresh ideas and new frameworks for a better expanse of the sector.