ONE WOMAN’S BATTLE TO PUSH AFRICA’S SPACE RACE

Cameroonian scientist Marie Makuate has been at the forefront of using information harvested by satellites to help save the lives of people on Earth in emergencies, but she argues the expense of the data should spur more African countries to launch their own space hardware. In the hours after the deadly earthquake struck central Morocco last September, the 32-year-old's phone started buzzing. She was thousands of kilometres from the zone of destruction, but her skills in analyzing satellite images were vital. "I woke up hearing message notifications of my colleagues telling me that there had been a disaster in Morocco," Ms Makuate tells the BBC from her base in the Cameroonian capital, Yaoundé. Learn more.