The Karman Project—a global foundation advancing peace and cooperation in space—will hold its flagship Karman Week 2026 from November 2–6 in Cape Town, South Africa. Leading African innovation advisory firm RIIS will serve as the primary host, supported by partner Mura Space, the Global Spaceport Alliance's (GSA) first and only commercial member in Africa. The annual Karman Week gathering convenes 15 high-impact global space leaders, including astronauts, agency heads, indust

Mura Space recently had the privilege of spending the day with the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s (UKZN) Aerospace Systems Research Institute (ASRI) — its partner in the commercialisation of the South Africa Sounding Rocket Facility at the Overberg Test Range. The visit focused on the future of Africa's commercial space access value chain and South Africa’s strategic independence in space. The visit featured a fireside discussion with Mura Chairman and Co-Founder, Mr. Roger Ja

Mura was recently honoured to host an international delegation for the Pan-African Space Showcase, organised by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and Plane Talking. Our portion of the tour was generously hosted at the world-class Petrawell manufacturing facility in Somerset West, Cape Town. The Showcase marks a significant milestone for the region. The FCDO Space Showcase brought together high-level industry representatives from the UK, Kenya, and Nigeri

RIIS’ Space Ecosystem Development Toolkit (SEDT) provides a practical tool for building thriving space innovation ecosystems in Africa, which is not only inclusive of space sector actors, capabilities and technologies, but extends to policies and enabling environments. Empowering all stakeholders in the ecosystem to drive development. Download the Toolkit and access customized support.

In addition to serving as significant catalysts for a local commercial space industry across the entire value chain, spaceports can be leveraged by policymakers or investment promotion agencies to supplement sustainable, regionalised tourism growth strategies that contribute to long-term development outcomes. The significant potential social, technological and economic development outcomes and impacts that are attainable through the enablement of safe, viable and commercial s

TL:DR - SA needs more launch! Mura Space and the Aerospace Systems Research Institute (ASRI) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal are proud to announce an exclusive agreement to commercialise ASRI's South African Sounding Rocket Launch Facility at the Overberg Test Range, Arniston, Western Cape in South Africa. This partnership is a step towards establishing a new industry and will enable only approved suborbital test or research vehicle launches, using existing and mobile la

Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost lunar lander casts its shadow across the Moon’s surface on March 2 2025, with Earth visible on the...

The MIT Media Lab, in partnership with the World Economic Forum, has released the Strategic Intelligence Map on Space. The tool brings...

It was an honour to participate and exhibit at the G20 Space Economy Leaders Meeting (SELM) 2025, where we introduced the Mura Spaceport™ initiative. Founded in a spirit of collaboration and global partnership, Mura Spaceport™ seeks to strengthen Africa’s sovereign role and expand its contribution to the global space economy and supporting infrastructure —harnessing space for peaceful development. Hosted by the South African National Space Agency (SANSA) and the Department of

We were honoured to participate in the South African National Space Conference 2025, held 20–22 August at the CSIR in Pretoria. The event was hosted by the National Earth Observations and Space Secretariat (NEOSS) and the South African National Space Agency (SANSA)—an initiative of the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI)—in collaboration with the South African Air Force (SAAF) and other national partners. The conference centred on the theme: “Space for Soc

'We’re proud to share that more Petrawell structures have successfully launched into orbit aboard SpaceX’s Transporter-14 mission. Each...

Mura Space is the first and only private commercial member of the Global Spaceport Alliance (GSA) located in Africa. The GSA is the...

3 March 2025 Mura Space is proud to announce its backing of the outstanding entrepreneurial team of engineers, technicians and founders behind Petrawell. We have acquired a significant stake in the company in order to support the team and help scale their vision. [Photo copyright of ASRI] Petrawell is a leading design, material science and manufacturing business, soon to be based at new premises in Somerset West, Cape Town. The company supplies various, leading local and inte