Inside MENA with Salam Abualhayjaa

What does it take to build a Mars mission… from scratch?

In this month’s Inside the Habitat, we head to Wadi Rum, Jordan, a place so otherworldly it’s often called “The Valley of the Moon,” to explore MENA, the first women-led space organization in the region dedicated to STEM, inclusion, and human space exploration.

Founded in 2024, MENA is already pushing boundaries, combining education, analog missions, and global collaboration to empower the next generation of scientists, engineers, and explorers. With over 250 students and young professionals involved, their work extends far beyond space, tackling real-world challenges like sustainability, water systems, and climate innovation.

And at the center of it all is Salam Abualhayjaa, founder and CEO, a mechanical engineer specializing in spacesuit design, a science communicator, and someone quietly building the future of space exploration from the ground up.

We talk about what it was like to run one of the very first missions as part of the World’s Biggest Analog, recently featured in National Geographic, and what happens when you try to build a Mars mission in the desert with limited resources, big ambition, and very little room for error.