SOP Sample for MS Space Engineering in India - Fresher Profile

Statement of Purpose

It's the late 2000's, the time when India launched its first lunar probe under the Chandrayaan program. During the same time, when the fifth grade summer vacation was getting started, I got to read a book called "Eyes into the Skies" by [ORGANIZATION] about astrophysics, astronautics and early history about the emergence of this field.

That was my first acquaintance with the world of Space Studies and it had a huge impact and influenced me in taking crucial decisions in my life such as opting Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry after my senior secondary education and engineering for my Bachelor Degree. There is no supernatural power that will come to the rescue of our fellow beings. Instead it is up to each of us to help each other and to me, the same can be done by technology, by allowing our minds to wonder and seek solutions creating the advancements in technology which in turn is all about helping people. I want my future to be dedicated for this, to explore the hidden gems that universe can offer.

In my life teachers played a very crucial role in shaping my personality and getting to know what I am good at. I did my schooling from [SCHOOL_NAME], where I secured 10 out of 10 CGPA in the Central Board of Secondary Education Examination for 10th grade. The idyllic atmosphere combined with good personalities helped me to become a versatile person with good sportsmanship from an introvert. I have represented my school and my district in various competitions from a young age onwards. My first and foremost childhood memory is representing my school and district in 'International Spelling Bee Competition'. Later on I have also represented in inter-school science exhibitions, athletics and badminton and my district in State Fencing Competition. These experiences helped me to have a healthy approach towards my academic career.

Then I joined [SCHOOL_NAME], where I secured 93.75% in the twelfth grade. This is the place where I found my passion for the engineering side of space studies: astronautical engineering. The teachers from my higher secondary school helped me a lot in preparing for my engineering entrance examination besides my academics, to achieve my dream of becoming an engineer. I secured an all India rank of 4964 in KEAM, which helped me to attain a position for Bachelors in Industrial Engineering from the prestigious [UNIVERSITY_NAME] with a scholarship from the Government of Kerala.

After I joined the prestigious institute, the academic and social lifestyle of the college helped me to see society with a new perspective and helped in improving my knowledge, expertise and acquiring new skills. I became a part of my college's Innovation and Entrepreneurship Cell from first year onwards which helped me improve my understanding of technology, industrial trends and as well as improve my management skills. Working closely with entrepreneurs and my college alumni, helped me to understand a lot about technologies that had a deep impact on multiple domains. This led me to take courses on Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, which in turn helped to secure an internship in [COMPANY_NAME], where I worked on building a classification model that predicts heart disease in a subject. The dataset was from a cardiovascular study of residents of the town of [CITY], Massachusetts. The classification goal was to predict whether the patient has 10-year risk of future coronary heart disease (CHD).

This internship caught my interest in machine learning and deep learning. At the same time I had started working on another project called 'Pulsar Detection using Image Stacking'. The project aim was to detect Pulsars from the dataset. For that we used datasets by the [TELESCOPE_NAME] radio telescope located in Western Australia. Then we used image stacking technique on datasets for detection, since most of the FITS images have a valid detection of interstellar objects and also the project consisted of optimising the algorithm. Experience that I got from these works convinced me to opt for data analytics and deep learning for Covid-19 detection and forecasting as my design project. There my work was mainly concentrated on coming up with a new improved Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) algorithm for Covid-19 from chest X-rays. Along with my teammates we were able to achieve one with high precision.

In parallel to these I was also searching for an internship position in the field of astronautical engineering and several other technologies that would change the upcoming decade. During this search I came to know about the Quantum Computing Program offered by [UNIVERSITY_NAME] in collaboration with [COMPANY_NAME] through [ORGANIZATION_NAME] organization. I was one of the first 2500 students selected for this program around the world. The classes helped me to understand a lot about advanced physics and what I wanted out of my future research.

After a rigorous selection process conducted by [ORGANIZATION_NAME], I was selected to a team of students to research space mission design. Our aim was to design a spacecraft for studying the Martian climatic conditions since its volatile atmosphere and the presence of huge dust-storms. Dust storms, which are the most dramatic events on Mars, can make the critical process of landing on Mars even more dangerous and could certainly make life difficult for future human explorers. My work was mainly concentrated in the design of propulsion and thermal control systems for the spacecraft. Here along with my teammate [NAME], we used a selection of existing propulsion systems based on requirements.

The selection was done on the delta-V requirement for the mission accompanied by thrust requirements. For these we studied a lot about different types of thrusters currently available along with the mission analysis report. A conceptual and preliminary design was done by a multi-platform analysis tool called Rocket Propulsion Analysis software (RPA). The information that we got from the preliminary report helped me to make a propellant budget for the spacecraft as well as for mass distribution in later stages of the research. On the thermal control side, work mainly was on conducting preliminary thermal analysis to evaluate hot case and cold case temperature for a varying value of Absorptivity and Emissivity using MATLAB. The intention was to check if insulations and coating were needed to be deployed. Working on this research grew my passion for space engineering.

During the literature review time for the power and mass budgeting, I came across the research paper 'Phase-A design of a Triboelectric Sensor for Space Applications'. This paper fascinated me to know more about triboelectric nanogenerators (TENG) and its potential application in other fields. I am currently involved in a research project under [PROFESSOR_NAME], our Head of Tribology, on the analysing characteristics of triboelectric material and finding suitable bio-composite material with required triboelectric properties that could be used as triboelectric nanogenerators. So far we have completed making of triboelectric sheets with PTFE and Kapton and a device finding voltage output for analysing impact of each parameter in voltage output. Using these readings collected we will be able to find rank for each parameter using Taguchi's method. We intend to publish the results soon.

I believe that academic credentials only when complemented with teamwork and leadership qualities, shape an individual's frame of mind. I had the privilege of being nominated as the Program Officer of [ORGANIZATION_NAME] and later on as the Chief Technical Officer. So far I have organised programs from talk sessions with eminent personalities from industries and entrepreneurs, conducted various workshops and also led a team of students for making a portable oxygen generator which has completed half way of prototyping with the help of funds received from state government.

I wanted to acquire knowledge and technical skills that are required to understand more about technologies for space mining and human space flight missions. Only when the mind learns the significance of the existence of areas where knowledge is irrelevant that a totally new dimension is created and the unused potentialities of the human mind activated and I believe it is possible only with your University. This calls for a higher level of knowledge, expertise and capacity to research extensively. I want to enroll in a Master's Program (MS), to a great extent in realizing my goal. Now, I bring along a strong grasp of fundamentals in space engineering and related subjects, an aptitude for research and teamwork, a zest for challenges and an enthusiastic desire to learn all I can. I would like to research and specialize in the field of Astronautics and Space Engineering for which I have an inherent proclivity. I am confident that I will be able to live up to your benchmarks and make significant contributions to the betterment of society.