Traits of a Leader by kyle

Traits of a Leader by kyle - December 2021 Scholarship Essay

A leader is someone like Elon Musk. Elon Musk is someone who inspires me. He dedicates himself to goals bigger than himself. Today, many people won't commit to goals that are long term. They don't only focus on benefits in the short term. Elon Musk has found ways to inspire our generation about the excitement of humanity's future in the stars. Elon's leadership skill is shown in his ability to get others to work hard towards making rapid changes. Within the past 10 years, Elon has changed the face of the spaceflight industry and the automotive industry in radical ways that many would view as impossible. Elon's mission to work hard for the benefit of the greater good is something I admire as I want to change the world like Elon. The qualities of a successful leader are that of someone who has a passion for what they do. Elon Musk works hard to accomplish his passions and his goals. I see opportunities for my personal growth by using my passion for spaceflight to engage in the field of science that I want to take part in.
In one of the projects I worked on, we had to choose a CEO and make a video diving into their ethics, finances, companies, history, and goals. As a space nerd, I wanted to look into Elon Musk, but I also understood that I had a large influence in the group and I felt that going with what the group felt was best was the ideal path to take. So, we decided to research an entrepreneur in the Bay area who started a shoe company, which was one of the other team members ideas. The team member had experience and connections to the CEO of the shoe company, as a result we felt that we could craft an interesting in-person interview with this person. However, that did not pan out. About 1 week till the project was due, the team member failed to deliver any updates regarding the interview, which was an issue because we also needed to edit the video once it was filmed. I didn’t want to take a course of action that would make the team unhappy but we were short on time. I met with the team and I told them that we could do Elon Musk and get it done within 4 days, as I had prior knowledge on this CEO which could be of benefit to us. During the next 4 days I propelled the group to deliver and we managed to complete the project on time and with quality.
Elon Musk is the Chief Executive Officer of SpaceX. In the short term, I would like to work at SpaceX as an aerospace integration engineer. I would like to contribute to the development of nuclear, plasma or space collected particle collision propelled interstellar rockets, nano rockets and space sails. In the long term, I would like to startup an aerospace space/suborbital launch provider company, that. provides access to space for students for hands-on learning. The market opportunity for this is pretty large with not much competition. This will encourage high school students all over the world to design and build their own payloads or experiments to send into space for a brief period of time. The suborbital mission allows for the payloads to come back down relatively quickly and allow for a "test, improve, and test again" approach. When students run into issues while their payload is in space, they will be able to bring it down, and relaunch it again for a low cost. I will also work on converting the suborbital launch vehicles into orbital launch vehicles to be launched from the lunar surface to deploy the needed infrastructure like GPS, Wi-Fi, imaging for sustainable lunar colonies. I will be finding parts suppliers, working on a good solid propellant compound for the Earth based suborbital launch vehicle engine motors, completing several static test fires while scaling up the size of the motors to the needed size to pass the Karman line. I will be developing the correct fuel mixture needed for a rocket capable of passing the Karman line. I will create a small motor, static fire it, then scale up to a bigger one and so on. I will streamline the propellant manufacturing line and begin working on the launch vehicle itself. Following completion of a promising launch vehicle design, I will begin manufacturing the first prototype.
The dedication towards doing something greater than oneself is something that resonates deeply in my personal values. By pursuing aerospace engineering, I will be able to play a role in piecing together a better future for humanity.