Maram Kairé

Systems engineer and astronomer, Commander of the National Order of the Lion (The Order of the Lion is Senegal's highest distinction), Maram KAIRE has become, since May 14, 2021, the 1st Senegalese to have his name attributed to an object in the Solar System with the naming of the asteroid (35462) Maramkaire by the International Astronomical Union. Ranked in December 2022 by JEUNE AFRIQUE Magazine among "THE 30 WHO MAKE THE AFRICA OF TOMORROW", HE ALSO ENTERED, IN 2021, IN THE PRESTIGIOUS "TOP 500 MOST INFLUENTIAL Africans in the world" by TROPICS Magazine (Johannesburg, South Africa). In June 2022, he received the Scientific Personality Award from the "Calabash of Excellence Awards" and then, in July 2022, the prestigious CAURIS D'OR SCIENTIFIQUE award. Maram KAIRE is the first African to receive, in 2023, the Marcel MOYE Prize of the Astronomical Society France.

Between 2018 and 2021, Maram KAIRE coordinated three (3) important NASA missions in Senegal to observe stellar occultations by the asteroids ARROKOTH, POLYMELE and ORUS. This, as part of the NEW HORIZONS space missions which flew over the planet PLUTO, and the LUCY space probe will visit between 2025 and 2033 a group of 8 Trojan asteroids.

Co-founder and current President of the Senegalese Association for the Promotion of Astronomy (ASPA), he is presented by the famous magazine CIEL & ESPACE and RFI radio as the driving force behind the development of Astronomy and Space Science in Senegal.

Maram KAIRE was appointed, in March 2020, National Astronomy Education Coordinator (NAEC) for Senegal by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), the organization that coordinates the work of astronomers and astrophysicists from around the world with the mission of helping to develop astronomy in the Senegalese education system.

Initiator of many astronomy development projects such as the SPACEBUS concept (the largest activity to promote astronomy ever organized in Africa), founding member of the African Astronomical Society (AFAS), He is also a member of the Executive Committee of the AFIPS (Africa Initiative for Planetary and Space Sciences) which works in the development of planetary and space sciences on the African continent.

Between 2015 and 2019, he was Technical Advisor to the Minister of Higher Education, Research and Innovation, in charge of the Promotion and Popularization of Scientific Culture. As the Ministry's focal point on space-related issues, he has led partnership projects with CNES (Centre National d'Études Spatiales de France) and ARIANEGROUP (Ariane rocket operator) for the development of the first Senegalese satellite, university courses in space science and the installation of an assembly center, integration and testing of microsatellites in Senegal.

A true popularizer of science in the service of the development of astronomy and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), he was a fellow in 2017 of the IVLP (International Visitor Leadership Program) of the U.S. Department of State in the field of "Science and Technology Education for Youth".

He is the Managing Director of AFRICASPACE, a company specializing in the strategic support of African states in the development and implementation of their space policy