Proudly Human

We are preparing to launch Proudly Human's Off-World Project this year in Namibia. Off-World: Namibia involves a carefully selected team living as a research community in the desert for 40 days during the driest months of the year. The team will build their infrastructure from scratch, including shelter, power, water, food and communication systems, and leave no trace of their presence on departure. The entire experience will be broadcast for a global audience though the documentary, Off-World: Namibia.

All our activities so far have been self-funded and/or sponsored by our collaborators. If selected, the Elevate Prize funding and support will enable us to plan for subsequent experiments, Off-World: Atlantic, where a team lives in a habitat under the ocean, and Off-World: Antarctica where a team spends the winter in the most extreme environment on Earth.

Funding and support will enable us to scale our activities in promoting companies developing technology for sustainability, facilitating skills development, boosting research, innovation and technology towards off-grid functionality, as well as providing a vision for young people of community spirit in even the harshest environments through grit, imagination, research and technology, towards a future we can be proud of, whatever planet we are on.

I'm a researcher at heart. I have a PhD in quantum biology and the origins of life. I’m working towards another in blockchain-based economic systems for resource-constrained environments.

I believe in positively impacting lives through technology. I was Head of Innovation at SAP Africa 2017-2019, and I'm currently a Director at the Foundation for Space Development Africa. The Foundation is developing Africa’s first mission to the Moon, the Africa2Moon Project.  

I’ve been thinking about exploring beyond Earth since childhood. In 2015, I was selected as one of 100 astronaut candidates with Mars One. When the startup declared bankruptcy in 2019, I founded Proudly Human. I have since visited some of the harshest and most remote locations on Earth, from deserts in Africa and the Middle East, all the way to Antarctica, on location scouts for Proudly Human’s Off-World Project.

I have given hundreds of talks to audiences on all seven continents of
this planet and been featured in numerous discussions and documentaries,
talking about how the voyage to Mars will expand our understanding of
reality and our place in it, enabling us to become better stewards of Earth and equipping us for the beginning of our journey to the stars.

We're living in an era of rapid technological development, where the space industry has played a fundamental role. Curiosity-driven space exploration is something to be proud of, a celebration of our humanity and the reality in which we find ourselves.

However, the massive growth in both our population and technological capability is having a destabilising impact on our life-support system. The result: climate change, extreme weather events, increased risk of pandemics, inequality and conflict. Billions of humans are already living in extreme conditions without access to safe shelter, reliable power, clean water, nutritious food and the communication systems necessary to participate in this era.

We face the greatest challenges and opportunities ever: balancing ambitious goals that inspire us to dream, like the first off-world communities, while simultaneously uplifting people already living in harsh conditions, and encouraging a rapidly growing youth to get excited about exploring and learning.

Proudly Human takes up the challenge by applying knowledge of how we will live off-world to improve standards of living on Earth. We'll demonstrate sustainable community living in some of the harshest environments on our planet, towards community spirit in extreme off-world conditions, as well as climate change resilience here on Earth.

Contributing to the most important innovation in the history of humanity: Living on more than one planet is an essential aspect of becoming a more advanced society, evolving our understanding of ourselves and the reality we live in. After 50 years of remote exploration, we are ready to send people to Mars. Proudly Human is working on what happens once we get there.

Building infrastructure from scratch in truly extreme environments: Our  teams will set up all infrastructure from scratch in extreme environments from the desert, to under the ocean, to Antarctica. In compliance with environmental regulations, the crew will leave no trace of their presence on departure.

Data on novel technology integrations: Life in the ISS and remote space exploration have led to impressive developments in solar power, water filtration, LED lighting for agriculture, automation, computing and more. We'll investigate novel integrations of existing technologies towards maximising in situ resource utilisation, reducing waste and resupply requirements, while collecting data towards infrastructural design optimisation for each unique environment.

Data on the team and community spirit: From heart rate to water consumption to video diaries, we'll be collecting data on each team member, while also investigating factors contributing to community spirit.

Over the past few years, I've given hundreds of talks to audiences on all seven continents of Earth, in settings from corporates to ashrams, been featured in interviews, discussions and documentaries including AOL’s ‘Citizen Mars’, and CNN’s ‘Africa’s Space Race’, sharing the story of how our expansion beyond Earth is imminent, and also a crucial aspect of becoming a more advanced society.

During my travels, I have had the privilege of sharing ideas with fascinating humans all over the world, many of whom have joined Proudly Human as advisors and technology partners, or are part of the current application phase to become community members. I have completed location scouts in areas from deserts in Africa and the Middle East, all the way to Antarctica.

I am now excited to move from the vision to the implementation. In the midst of trials and tribulations of the past couple of years, we have decided the time is now to launch our project, to demonstrate human resilience, sustainability and community spirit in even the most extreme environments through grit, imagination, research and innovation. We are making good progress towards securing permitting and a major international broadcaster for our launch in Namibia.