Global Aerospace Challenge

A trip to Adelaide to witness a meeting of the world’s top minds in the field of space at the International Astronautical Congress, proved to be the inspiration behind the UTS Faculty of Engineering & IT Summer Studio - Global Aerospace Challenge led by fourth-year student, Gavan Huang.

“I think UTS has the right mindset when it comes to experiential learning and this is a point of difference when you choose to study here,” he said.

“Senior staff are accessible and open to students pitching their ideas which is a big plus when trying to get new initiatives off the ground.”

Gavan’s first step was to introduce the idea of a space subject to the Faculty’s Learning and Development team. This was met with a positive response together with the suggestion to test the waters at the UTS Summer Studio and so the Global Aerospace Challenge was born.

As Founder and President of the UTS Professional Aeronautics and Astronautics Society, Gavan is passionate about providing students with better access into the Australian Space Industry.

Through the Global Aerospace Challenge, he hoped to debunk the myth of space being a difficult topic and introduce people to the concept of space entrepreneurship.

“Students have the opportunity to work closely with industry stakeholders to build projects to solve problems the space industry faces today.”

So, what exactly is space entrepreneurship?

“It’s about looking at the problems that exist in the world and using space technology to solve it – then creating a scalable business model which can sustain your solution, such as:

• Farmers using space technology to detect when crops are ready for harvesting, or
• The reusable rockets that Elon Musk’s Space X is using to bring down the cost of launch.”

Gavan says the 10 participants kicked off their Global Aerospace Challenge by discussing their own space interests – from space colonisation to launch vehicles and asteroid mining.

“I wanted to take all the best aspects of uni learning and combine them into one so that we could deliver an inspiring studio workshop,” he said.

With the Australian Government announcing its intention to establish an Australian space agency, Gavan hopes the UTS Faculty of Engineering and IT is recognised as competitive in this field.

“The success of the Global Aerospace Challenge and the introduction of space subjects to our mainstream curriculum is a positive step forward as we continue to work towards UTS students becoming the future leaders of the space industry.”