Christopher Luwanga has never worked a traditional nine-to-five job. Instead, the 32-year-old NYU Abu Dhabi mechanical engineering graduate (NYUAD 2017), who has been fascinated by space since his teenage years, launched a space infrastructure company that builds satellites.
Based in Singapore, Luwanga is the founder and chief executive of Galamad, short for Galactic Nomad, a company that builds satellites to enable telecommunications companies to reach farther and connect people.
Journey to NYUAD
Luwanga's path to NYU Abu Dhabi began serendipitously through his high school. During one of the information sessions, Luwanga learned about the opportunities available at NYUAD, including scholarship grants.
In February 2012, he traveled to the UAE for his university interview. "It was my first trip out of the country. It was very exciting, very, very new in terms of the environment and overwhelming at first sight," said Luwanga.
During his undergraduate years, Luwanga enrolled in mechanical engineering with a minor in aerospace engineering. He spent a year in New York to fulfill the aerospace requirements as NYUAD did not have an aerospace program at the time.
Twenty Students, Twenty-One Nationalities
Apart from the technical know-how the university taught him, it was the classroom's diversity that transformed his perspective. In his class, he had 20 students from 21 countries — one of the students had dual citizenship, Luwanga recalls with a laugh.
It’s a huge contrast from his high school experience and it’s one of the things he cherished about college. "We are in this environment where practically everybody is not like you, and still being able to do assignments together, being able to think through things together, I think that's absolutely the most memorable thing."
This exposure shaped more than just his cultural awareness; it influenced his philosophy of business and humanity. "My worldview is shaped in some sense by that experience," said Luwanga.
Luwanga also spent three months studying the Dharavi community in Mumbai, the largest slum in Asia, as part of the NYUAD Engineers for Social Impact program. It gave him a glimpse into what an engineer can help do in society.
Fascination with Space
Luwanga's fascination with space didn't emerge until his late teens. As a child, he wanted to be a pilot and, later, an aerospace engineer.
"Until my mid to late teens, I had always considered space as primarily planets," he explained.
"And then I found out that the planets are part of it and that our star itself is one of 200 billion in our galaxy… and that there are billions of galaxies." He added, "Mathematically, it was just so mind-boggling that, as humanity, we would be here.”
This got Luwanaga thinking about how he could contribute to expanding the understanding of the universe and be part of the space industry. Luwanga moved to Singapore in 2018 to pursue a PhD in space physics at Nanyang Technological University. While conducting research in space physics, he also helped build satellites.
His vision was to design and engineer satellites in Singapore, then manufacture them at scale in Africa, where he could "employ thousands of people" while keeping costs manageable. Then in 2022, an NYUAD friend visited Singapore with her partner and met up with Luwanga. Inspired by Luwanga's passion, his friend’s partner rallied colleagues and raised "a little over USD 1 million" in seed funding.
Luwanga wants to use the company to connect people to the internet and to power infrastructure in space. He discovered that a significant portion of space-grade component costs stemmed simply from geographic location. "We are building space-age spacecraft to connect and empower humanity,” he said.
His company Galamad is keen on partnerships globally, including with UAE space entities. Luwanga also welcomes opportunities to collaborate with his NYUAD peers and offers internships to students.
With the universe being largely unexplored, Luwanga is set to do his part to change that, one satellite at a time.
