The Program
GHP — Georgia Governor's Honors Program is a summer program for top students in Georgia. I was in the mechanical & aerospace engineering track, led by Professor Craig Worley — a Caltech grad who works at Blue Origin.
For a month, we learned and built. One week learning, three weeks implementing. It was intense, inspiring, and honestly a little terrifying.
The Ionic Thruster Airplane
Our team designed and built an ionic thruster airplane — inspired by MIT's research. The concept: push thousands of volts through laser-cut wood and thin film to create ionic wind that generates thrust. No propellers, no moving parts — just pure physics.
I handled ALL of the electronics — the voltage rectifier, stepping voltage up to the levels we needed, and making sure the whole system was safe (or at least survivable). We went through 3 versions of the DMS (Dead Man Switch) over the course of the project.
Timeline
Week 1
Learning phase — deep dive into aerospace engineering, ionic propulsion theory, and electronics fundamentals.
Weeks 2–4
Implementation — designing, laser cutting, wiring, testing, breaking, rebuilding. Three iterations of the Dead Man Switch. Three versions of the airplane.
Final Presentation
Presented the completed ionic thruster airplane to the GHP community.
Gallery
