Out of the Box Aerospace Revolutionizes Education

How “Out of the Box Aerospace” is Revolutionizing Education for the Final Frontier – by Frederic Eger – An innovative Israeli NGO is preparing the next generation for lunar colonies and Mars missions while breaking down earthly barriers through aerospace education. Out of the Box Aerospace (outoftheboxedu.space), led by founder-CEO Vered Susanne Cohen-Barzilay and supported by a dedicated team of experts including Shmuel Barzilay, Dr. Jacob Cohen, Dr. Reut Sorek Abramovich, PhD, Dana Grinberg, Dr. Roy Yaniv, Chiara Chiesa, Dr. Ayelet Weizman, is training hundreds of students weekly across nine countries to prepare them for humanity’s multi-planetary future. The organization has identified three critical bridges that must be built for successful space expansion.

In a nondescript office in Tel Aviv, Vered Suzanne Cohen-Barzilay is planning humanity’s future beyond Earth. Not through rocket designs or Mars habitat blueprints, but through something potentially more powerful: education. As founder and CEO of Out of the Box Aerospace, she leads an international social enterprise that’s training hundreds of students weekly across nine countries, preparing them for a reality where humans will live and work on the Moon within five years and establish Mars colonies within fifteen.

“We are gold nuggets researchers and seekers, who will nurture them from mid-school to university,” Vered Cohen-Barzilay explains, describing her organization’s mission to identify and develop aerospace talent globally. “Our goal is to breed the next generation of startup owners and leaders, and aerospace industry executives through workshops, collaborations and several other programs.”

The organization, operating across Israel, the United States, Italy, and expanding into Europe, has identified three critical bridges that must be built to ensure humanity’s successful expansion into the solar system. These bridges span not just the technical challenges of space exploration, but the educational, temporal, and social divides that could derail our species’ greatest adventure.

Bridge One: From Classroom Theory to Launch Pad Reality.

The first and perhaps most immediate challenge Out of the Box addresses is the growing disconnect between traditional aerospace education and industry needs. While universities continue to teach theoretical frameworks, the rapidly evolving space industry desperately seeks professionals with practical, hands-on experience.

“We aim to fill in the gap between the lack of adequacy of the educational system and the need of the aerospace industry and its related job market,” Vered Cohen-Barzilay states. “The aerospace industry has difficulties finding skilled applicants, and job applicants in the job market have hard times finding a position.”

This disconnect has become increasingly problematic as the commercial space sector explodes. Companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin, and dozens of smaller startups need engineers who can work with cutting-edge technologies, not just understand textbook principles. Out of the Box has responded by establishing partnerships with Arizona University and building educational collaborations with major airlines including El Al and United Airlines.

The organization’s approach is radically different from traditional education. Students participate in international competitions that account for 30% of their final exam marks, recognized by Israel’s Ministry of Education and Ministry of Science and Technology. Participants receive Letters of Recognition from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the program has even established recognition with the Senator of California.

Vanessa Zemmourt, the organization’s European Advisor and Judge at the 2025 competition in Prague, is working to expand this model across Europe.

“We’re coordinating with Belgium and EU authorities to have the EU and Belgium’s Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Science & Tech partner with Out of the Box Aerospace to certify the educational degree delivered by the organization after the 9-month program,” she explains from her Brussels office.

The practical focus extends beyond traditional aerospace engineering. The curriculum includes everything from Mars habitat design to satellite communications, from space law to the psychological challenges of long-duration space missions. Students work on real projects, often in collaboration with space agencies and private companies, gaining experience that makes them immediately valuable to employers.

Bridge Two: Preparing Today’s Students for Tomorrow’s Colonies.

The second bridge spans an even greater divide: time itself. With governments planning lunar outposts within five years and Mars colonies within fifteen, today’s teenagers will be the first generation to potentially live and work beyond Earth. This reality demands a fundamental reimagining of education.

“The current generation being trained to enter the workforce in five to ten years must learn how to live on the Moon, live on Mars,” Vered Susanne Cohen-Barzilay emphasizes. “AI and Robotics will be ubiquitous as part of the university curriculum and the daily work operations and processes.”

This future-focused approach addresses a troubling trend Vered Cohen-Barzilay has observed: “We’ve noticed that the level of education is going down year after year, and AI is not helping, it is actually contributing to an increase in incompetence and absence of knowledge.”

The solution, according to Out of the Box, isn’t to reject AI but to teach students to use it critically and ethically. “We must prepare our teenagers and young adults to think critically to truly and morally earn their degree, and be able to use AI the proper way, understanding the biases of the algorithms, understanding that an AI is not a godly truth to be taken as is,” Vered Cohen-Barzilay insists.

The organization’s programs, including Mars2Go and Mars4Girls, simulate the challenges of off-world living. Students learn not just the technical aspects of life support systems and habitat construction, but also the social dynamics of small, isolated communities, resource management in extreme scarcity, and the ethical frameworks needed for governing extraterrestrial settlements.

Vanessa Zemmourt, drawing from her extensive background in digital transformation and government, emphasizes the importance of preparing students for a radically different technological landscape. “In fifteen years, governments will have outposts on Mars. The infrastructure, the communication systems, the security protocols – everything will be different from what we know today. We’re preparing students not just for jobs that don’t exist yet, but for entire industries that haven’t been invented.”

The accelerator program, one of Out of the Box’s flagship initiatives, pairs students with mentors from the space industry, providing real-world experience in developing space technologies and businesses. These aren’t theoretical exercises – students work on actual problems facing the industry, from developing more efficient life support systems to creating sustainable food production methods for Mars colonies.

Bridge Three: Uniting Humanity for the Stars.

Perhaps the most ambitious bridge Out of the Box seeks to build spans the national, religious, and ideological divides that have plagued humanity throughout history. The organization’s leaders believe that space exploration offers a unique opportunity to transcend these divisions, but only if deliberately cultivated through education.

“Ignorance is the worst gift we can give to the next generation,” Vered Cohen-Barzilay states bluntly. “It is by having students of as many nationalities and faiths that we can build an inclusive society that accepts everyone without political prejudices and biases.”

This commitment to inclusion comes from hard-won experience. Vered Cohen-Barzilay, who previously worked at Amnesty International, learned valuable lessons about the dangers of selective humanism.

“What I learned in working at an organization that has become one of the most anti-Zionist and antisemitic organizations is inclusion, and inclusion also applies to Jews and Israelis. No organization can claim to be truly defending Human Rights if Human Rights becomes selective and excludes certain nationalities and religions.”

Out of the Box actively recruits students from diverse backgrounds, currently operating programs in Israel, India, Portugal, Italy, Nigeria, Czechia, and Turkey. “We embrace and welcome everyone, all nationalities and all religions. We welcome equally Hindus and Muslims from India, as well as Jews, Christians, or Buddhist or any other faiths,” Vered Cohen-Barzilay emphasizes.

The organization teaches more than technical skills. “We teach them to be tolerant, patient, to speak with everyone, to cooperate with everyone,” Vered Cohen-Barzilay explains. This emphasis on soft skills reflects a deep understanding that the challenges of space colonization will be as much social as technical.

The organization integrates the Jewish concept of Tikkun Olam – repairing the world – into its curriculum, teaching students compassion and empathy alongside orbital mechanics and life support systems. When an earthquake struck Turkey, the organization mobilized its Israeli students – Jewish, Christian, and Muslim – to contribute to relief efforts, demonstrating that the values needed for space exploration must be practiced on Earth.

“We nurture the leaders of tomorrow on how to be responsible,” Vered Cohen-Barzilay notes. This responsibility extends beyond technical competence to encompass ethical leadership and global citizenship.

Vanessa Zemmourt, with her cosmopolitan background spanning Polish, Lithuanian, Russian, Egyptian, and, Italian Jewish heritage, embodies the organization’s international vision. “Hate cannot be an option and will only lead Humanity to self-destruction,” she states. “Radicals and extremists, either extreme left or extreme right, or religious fundamentalists, as well as dictatorial or terrorist nation-states, cannot have any place in tomorrow’s space industry and endeavors beyond Earth into the Solar System.”, emphasizes Vanessa Zemmourt.

The Givatayim Model: A City Reaching for the Stars.

The organization’s impact extends beyond individual students to entire communities. In Givatayim, Israel, Out of the Box has partnered with local government to create the “City of Space” initiative, a comprehensive urban plan that integrates space education throughout the city’s educational system, from kindergarten through high school. The project builds on Givatayim’s space heritage – the city hosts Israel’s first and oldest observatory, established during the original space race. Now, the city aims to position itself at the forefront of the new space economy, with programs that combine physical and digital learning, encourage entrepreneurship, and strengthen connections between schools, the Israel Space Agency, NASA, and private space companies.

Looking Forward: Challenges and Opportunities.

As Out of the Box expands its reach, it faces significant challenges. Securing recognition for its educational programs from European authorities requires navigating complex bureaucracies. The organization must balance its commitment to inclusion with the political realities of operating in diverse and sometimes conflicting regions. And as Vered Cohen-Barzilay notes, the declining quality of traditional education and the misuse of AI tools present ongoing obstacles.

Yet the opportunities are immense. The space economy is projected to reach $1 trillion within the decade, with satellites providing global internet access and private companies offering commercial space travel. The demand for skilled aerospace professionals will only grow as humanity establishes permanent presences on the Moon and Mars.

Out of the Box’s model offers a blueprint for addressing this demand while simultaneously tackling some of humanity’s most persistent challenges. By bridging the gap between education and industry, preparing students for an interplanetary future, and fostering international cooperation through shared goals, the organization demonstrates that the journey to the stars begins not with rockets, but with reimagining how we prepare our children for tomorrow.

“When you choose to perform selective humanism, what you do in reality is you punish young students,” Vered Cohen-Barzilay reflects. “That is why we, at Out of the Box Aerospace, embrace and welcome everyone.”

As humanity stands on the threshold of becoming a multiplanetary species, organizations like Out of the Box Aerospace remind us that our greatest challenge isn’t the vast distances of space or the harsh environments of other worlds. It’s ensuring that when we reach for the stars, we do so together, bringing the best of humanity with us while leaving our worst impulses behind on Earth. Through education that bridges industries, generations, and cultures, they’re helping ensure that the final frontier becomes not another arena for earthly conflicts, but a genuine opportunity for human unity and advancement.

— Frederic Eger

For more, check: https://www.outoftheboxedu.space/the-team

Partners: NASA Ames Research Center, US Embassy in Israel, Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Israel Space Agency, Spacecom. Helios, StarBurst IAI, Negev Gliding Center, Horizon Space Educators Network, Czech Space Agency, Space4Women, Alef Farms, Madatech, Space Tourism Society Africa, Women in Aviation International, Kibbuztim Teacher College, Planetania Museum & Observatory, Carasso Science Park.