On November 27 this year, during the 1st Student Space Conference, the winners of the Competition for the Award of the President of the Polish Space Agency for the best student diploma thesis in the field of space research were announced. It was the third edition of this POLSA initiative aimed at promoting individual and team achievements of students of Polish universities.
In the category of bachelor’s and engineering theses:
The 1st degree prize was awarded to Zuzanna Rydz (AGH University of Science and Technology in Krakow) for the work “Development of a system to reduce vibrations of a composite rocket fin during flight”.
The 2nd degree award was granted to Patrycja Katarzyna Bałdyga (Military University of Technology) for the work “Design of a cosmic ray detection system”.
The 3rd degree award went to Kamil Dąbrowski (Warsaw University of Technology) for the work “Analysis of the tank heating system for a cold gas engine in the PW-Sat3 satellite”.
In the category of master’s theses:
The 1st degree prize was awarded to Karol Pelzner (Gdańsk University of Technology) for the work “Optimizing the process of measuring thermal parameters for a rocket model”.
The 2nd degree award was given to Konrad Aleksiejuk (Warsaw University of Technology) for the work “Power electronic converter with SiC couplers to power the planetary penetrator”.
The 3rd degree award went to Dawid Adamski (Military University of Technology) for the work “Computer model of the position control systems for the Cube 1U satellite”.
In addition, it was decided that the award would be awarded to Agata Łazarewicz (Wrocław University of Economics) for the work “Artificial intelligence in space logistics – current state and development prospects”. It is one of the bachelor’s theses that were included in the competition for the first time, also in response to the suggestions of the academic community. Following the experience of previous editions, the thematic scope has also been expanded, so that not only authors of works in the field of engineering, but also the authors of works in the field of engineering, but also of much more broadly understood space research and exploration can compete.
The competition successively builds its range and place in the calendar of events that are important to people at the start of their professional or scientific career, and reliable for entities and companies looking for the most talented and promising people in the industry. The increase in the number of applications compared to the previous year was probably stopped by the pandemic situation, due to which the deadlines for submitting and defending theses were extended at many universities.
The scope of the competition is shown by the growing number of universities from which applications were recorded – in the first edition there were 6, in the next 8, and in the current one 9. The most active are traditionally the Warsaw University of Technology and the AGH University of Science and Technology in Kraków, but as many as 4 applications were submitted this year after for the first time from the Kielce University of Technology, all under the supervision of dr hab. Eng. Paweł Łaski. It is the promoters and guardians who deserve, apart from the authors themselves, the greatest thanks for the high substantive level of the submitted works.
The jury, in which, along with the representatives of POLSA, including the acting president, dr hab. Eng. Marek Moszyński was also headed by dr hab. Eng. Andrzej Majka and dr hab. Eng. Sławomir Pietrowicz from the Wrocław University of Technology, assessed, among others, scientific, cognitive and innovative value of the work, as well as the application potential of the formulated conclusions.
Winners will receive diplomas and cash prizes.
