A contribution to Chilean space exploration: UAI Engineering student presents thesis progress in national workshop

With the aim of making a contribution to national space exploration, Camilo Vásquez, a student at the Faculty of Engineering and Sciences UAI (FIC) and the Master in Engineering Sciences, participated in the 2nd edition of the Workshop on Instrumentation in Geosciences: Space Physics, organized by the University of Santiago de Chile and the University of Chile.

UAI Communications.- The main focus of the meeting was to bring together all the national and international actors interested in the issues of instrumental development, data collection and processing techniques.

The FIC student presented a preview of his thesis, which consists of measuring the impulse generated by a plasma thruster the size of a 10-peso coin, being able to evaluate its capabilities and performance. “This project will allow the validation of a nanothrust, which opens up new possibilities to create propulsion and orientation systems for nanosatellites, adding a grain of sand to Chilean space exploration”account.

Regarding the presentation itself, Vásquez assured that “It was an enriching experience, since it allowed me to present my progress to an audience outside the university and meet people who have been working in the area for years”.

It should be noted that the FIC student has two guiding professors to carry out the thesis: Leopoldo Soto, who is an experimental physicist and works with plasmas at the Chilean Nuclear Energy Commission (CCHEN) and Felipe AsenjoPhD in Sciences, mention in Physics, and UAI Engineering academic.

“Camilo presented his preliminary results of the development of the plasma thruster to peers and other academics and they were received with great enthusiasm and congratulations, which consolidated – what we believed – about the importance of this research,” ensures Felipe Asenjo. “On the other hand, he was able to interact with scientists and engineers from other complementary areas, getting to know other realities and expanding his future possibilities. This research put the UAI on the radar of institutions interested in contributing to the development of the space area in Chile, which opens up the possibilities for future and new collaborations, especially for those interested students.”he pointed out.

Finally, the academic commented that “Research of this type at the UAI is an invitation for all those students who want to expand their scientific interests, to the limits of current, global and national knowledge. The doors are open”.

Meanwhile, Camilo Vásquez emphasized that “At FIC, top-level research is carried out and I call on more students to join projects and research, either in a TID or in any instance that is possible. We must take advantage of the fact that it is in this period within the university that we will have time to learn, the opportunity to meet professors and professors, who can guide us and show us topics that are beyond the study framework”.

The 1st Workshop on Instrumentation in Geosciences was organized at the Center for Scientific Instrumentation of the Adventist University of Chile in Chillán in 2022, bringing together more than 15 participants from at least 4 different Chilean institutions.

On this occasion, the participants met on the first day at the USACH, while on the second day they participated from the Faculty of Physical and Mathematical Sciences of the University of Chile. The event ended with a visit to the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso to attend the kick off of the SEETRUE Ring Project – PUCV/UFRO/UCHILE.