WSAASS-2025

Farah Youssef is the founder of Astropoint, a youth-led space tech and education initiative that has reached over 5,000 students across 17 countries. Based in the UAE, she is a high school senior and award-winning researcher whose work spans astrophysics, systems engineering, and synthetic biology. She has presented at international venues including the International Astronautical Congress (IAC), SpaceOps, and the UAE Space Research Conference. Farah was an Astrophysics Research Intern at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she worked with Keck II telescope data to improve stellar spectra reduction methods—earning an Honorable Mention at the NewChicago Space Conference. Through Astropoint, she has mentored over 500 students globally and led initiatives like the Egypt Space Design Competition in collaboration with Oxford University and TU Delft. Her technical work includes designing a 60-kg lunar rover with an in-situ hydrogen extraction system, developing Retino, a neuromorphic imaging system for early retinal disease diagnosis, and co-founding BiogasX, a $60,000 award-winning methane plant for Mars powered by gene-edited bacteria. Farah is passionate about using space as a platform for innovation and making science accessible to youth worldwide—bridging planetary frontiers with purpose and curiosity.