20/08/2026
María Fernanda del Barco grew up watching her father cultivate plantains on Costa Rica’s 🇨🇷 Caribbean coast. But from an early age, she was drawn to something else entirely - science, technology, and eventually, space.
Today, at just 27, she has co-founded a space 🚀 company, flown an experiment on a suborbital rocket, and been recognised by the International Astronautical Federation and Forbes.
Maria is now halfway through the Master in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Luxembourg, learning the one thing her mechatronics engineering degree never taught her: how to turn technical ideas into a business.
👉 Read her story: https://www.uni.lu/fdef-en/news/how-maria-is-turning-her-space-dreams-into-reality/