Introducing SAPIENT.rocks: Where Planetary Science Meets Technology Education
SAPIENT.rocks - the South African Planetary Institute for Exploring Nature with Technology - is a collaborative initiative co-founded by :David Campey (CoderLevelUp / Afrolabs) and Dr. Matthew S. Huber (Planetary Science Institute / University of KwaZulu-Natal).
The idea: use the excitement of planetary science and space exploration to engage learners, educators, and the public in technology - and make that engagement concrete, hands-on, and inspiring.
Website: sapient.rocks
The People
:David Campey is a software developer, tech entrepreneur, and the founder of CoderLevelUp and Afrolabs. He’s been growing the coding community in Cape Town since 2012.
Dr. Matthew S. Huber is a Research Scientist at the Planetary Science Institute (Tucson, AZ) and Senior Lecturer at UKZN. He’s an expert in impact craters and planetary geology, whose work has been featured in Newsweek, Washington Post, Fox News, EOS, and Live Science. He has run NASA workshops, organised European Astrobiology Institute conferences, and is based at UKZN Durban.
Together, they bring software education expertise and frontier planetary science into the same room - which turns out to be a compelling combination.
What SAPIENT.rocks Does
Mars Yard - a simulated Martian landscape where learners run code on real rovers. Currently at Parklands College in Cape Town, with the Cape Town Science Centre’s “Space Room” hosting an exhibit (launching September 2025, in time for CTSC’s 25th birthday celebration in October 2025). Four Mars Yards are planned by 2026, including multi-museum and multi-school deployments.
Iziko Planetarium Lectures - Dr. Huber convenes public science talks at the Iziko Planetarium and Digital Dome in Cape Town, on topics from meteorites to the Moon and Mars. These are entry points for public engagement before connecting audiences to hands-on activities.
UCT Final Year Project - Sponsored by impact.com and CoderLevelUp, a team of UCT Information Systems students are building the SAPIENT.rocks Mars Yard Cloud Platform. The concept: a “telescope time” model where learners submit code, the system schedules it to run on a real rover, and results come back as video and images. Any school, anywhere in South Africa, could do real robotics experimentation without being physically present.
SANSA Partnership - A developing partnership with the South African National Space Agency (SANSA), connecting SAPIENT.rocks’ learner outreach with SA’s lunar mission capacity-building and STEM programmes.
The Vision
Planetary science is one of the most compelling entry points for young people into STEM. When a learner sees a rover navigating Mars-like terrain - and realises they can write the code that makes it move - something clicks.
SAPIENT.rocks’ goal is to multiply that moment across South Africa. Not just in Cape Town, not just in well-resourced schools, but broadly - through simulation, through public engagement, and through genuine scientific connection to the frontier.
Follow Along
- sapient.rocks
- Mars Yard - the hands-on learning activity
- info@coderlevelup.org
