For USU students the sky is the limit
Two USU graduates were awarded a total of $10,000 in scholarships for their work in the space technology field at USU’s 21st annual Conference on Small Satellites in August.
Patrick Jolley, who graduated in 2007 with a master’s degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering, won second place and was awarded the $7,500 Frank J. Redd Student Scholarship for his proposal for a spaceship that could carry a small satellite into space, drop in altitude until it gets low enough to be able to fly around just inside the Earth’s atmosphere, and then go back into space in a different orbit and deposit the satellite.
Scott Jensen, who received his master’s degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering in 2007, received an honorable mention and was awarded $2,500 for a plan that uses Earth’s magnetic field to adjust a satellite’s orientation. Although Jensen could not be reached for comment, he has said his plans could be implemented in as soon as two years.
The Conference of Small Satellites features a student scholarship competition that is open to all full-time undergraduate or graduate students in engineering or scientific disciplines.
Jolley said he first became aware of the scholarship when a former professor at USU urged him to submit his paper to the competition.
“I wasn’t going to do it,” Jolley said, “but I’m glad I did and I am really grateful to him.”
In a previously published article, Jolley said his idea is important because it could drastically reduce the time it takes to replace failed satellites.
“In a time of crisis, you could deploy this spacecraft and get there quickly,” Jolley said. He said the proposal was a research project for his thesis and that he hopes it will cause people to become interested and research it further.
“It opens the door to a new capability,” he said.
Although Jolley has known since high school that he wanted to be an engineer, he said it wasn’t until he saw “October Sky,” a movie about a boy who is inspired to build his own rockets and then competes in a national science fair, that he wanted to be involved with space technology.
“I saw the movie ‘October Sky’,” Jolley said, “and thought, ‘Yeah, that’s what I want to do.'”
Jolley said he will use the money he received to pay off his student loans and said he hopes to continue his work in the space technology industry. He is employed at ATK Launch Systems in Magna, Utah, where he designs and analyzes new launch systems.
-amanda.m@aggiemail.usu.edu