Ky. professors see increase in aerospace as projects head to the stars

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) – Horses, Bourbon, maybe you’ve heard Kentucky’s adding a new famous export, Space. Onboard, some NASA and space-x missions this year were projects designed at Kentucky universities.

“We are building a Lunar mission right now in Morehead, and that is absolutely crazy when you think about it,” said Morehead State University Mechanical Engineering Professor Dirk Grupe.

It’s not the only faculty at MSU, but also students building that mission along with many other projects, including a deep space antenna.

“It’s pretty extraordinary our students literally get their hands on hardware that flies in space,” said Benjamin Malphrus, MSU Space Science Center Executive Director.

The University of Kentucky is also working on a project with students that SpaceX launched earlier this month. Their hopes, one day of helping the International Space Station station repair holes more permanently with their project, “Brazing Aluminum Alloys in Space.”

“What astronauts do right now, if they get some hole they plug it with, you wouldn’t believe, duct tape,” said Dusan Sekulic, UK Mechanical Engineering Professor.

Over the past five to seven years, both universities said more students are interested in the field.

Morehead has about 150 students in its program, and there are around 100 at UK. Also, the aerospace industry is the number one export in the state of Kentucky.

“People think it’s the automotive or the distillation industry or thoroughbreds,” said Maphrus.

And students don’t have to look in another galaxy for jobs.

“There are lots of jobs still here in Kentucky,” said Grupe. “If students are very bound to their families, they really don’t have to leave Kentucky.”

UK offers an aerospace certificate, but not a degree yet.

“So, 30 students a year that leave the state for an undergrad degree in aerospace, so they go to other programs,” said Alexandre Martin, UK Mechanical Engineer.

With a degree in the works at UK and NASA’s plans to send an MSU project to space in 2021, Kentucky universities hope to keep their students in state and their projects out of this world.