My Thirst to Explore the Universe

“My goal is simple. it’s a complete understanding of the universe. Why it’s as it is and why it exists at all”.

This quote by DR. Stephen Hawking triggered my thirst to explore the universe.

Right since I was a child, I was intrigued by space travel. Growing up watching shows like “Journey through the cosmos” made me like space travel even more. I found myself thinking about space travel every time I had time for myself. The thinking made me question how space travel worked. This pushed me to opt science stream in high school. Science in high school taught me physical laws like Kepler’s law of planetary motion. I also opted for computer science and learnt some basic programming too. I seemed to be able to apply concepts taught in school on simple problems of engineering with ease. This helped me secure good scores in my final exams. Equipped with enough tools, I was set to learn more about space travel.

In the interest of acquiring more knowledge about space travel, I enrolled myself in Aerospace engineering for my Bachelor’s degree. In my first year I took courses in basic physics, chemistry, computer science and maths which laid in a strong foundation on which I could build further on. In my second and third years, I took courses on thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, engineering mechanics, solid mechanics, aircraft stability and aircraft materials which will help me in understanding basic flight mechanisms and design structures to optimize flight. Further inquisitiveness made me attend a workshop conducted by ISRO on launch vehicle Aerodynamics and the pre-conference workshop on small satellite technology. These workshops inspired me to take up space engineering for further study. Currently, in my final year, I’ve taken up courses on orbital mechanics, rocket propulsion systems, satellite and space craft designs which will further help me design spacecrafts and satellites and calculate trajectories to planets. I’ve chosen my final year project thesis to be “optimisation of interplanetary trajectory design to titan” which has made me dive into the subject further. This interest helps me to overcome the obstacles which are present in this field. 

My next idea is to take up master’s in spatial engineering thereby I will be able to contribute to the development in advanced propulsion systems by working on our old rocket modules and analysing the propulsion systems used to crack some new ideas and also with some experience in interplanetary trajectory design it can lead me to my destination which I saw first in my childhood. 

While speaking about career goals and interests now after completing my bachelor’s degree I would like to take up works regarding space vehicle designing and working on long distance propulsion systems, space debris and studying more about orbital mechanics. The universities which are present in European union are of the top most old and prestigious universities which provide spatial engineering as an individual degree. This helps me to segregate my field and work upon it and this helps to pursue my research on, so it’s the one of the ultimate destinations in my list that’s yet to be explored.