Ansh Pathak - Aerospace research · US patent

US patent holder for SWEEP, a space-debris capture platform presented at AAS 248. Seven papers and preprints, and a flight simulator validated to 1.5% against a Boeing 737-800.

I am a driven and adept senior at Heritage High School with a strong passion for STEM fields, especially aerospace engineering and quantum mechanics. Backed by 7+ years of programming and engineering experience and a demonstrated ability to solve complex problems and create innovative solutions, I actively seek opportunities to pursue professional development, innovate, lead, and apply my skills in real-world projects through hands-on work, rigor, and impactful collaborations.

Heritage High School, Frisco, TX. Email: pathakansh10@gmail.com

Research (7 papers and preprints)

Space Debris Mitigation (2025, AAS 248 - Pasadena, CA): SWEEP, a US-patented spacecraft that captures orbital debris, compacts it into dense pellets, and fires them out of orbit from electromagnetic railguns - using the recoil to maneuver. Presented at AAS 248.
Traffic Optimization Through Fluid Dynamics (2026, Pending): Treats traffic as fluid flow, using Navier-Stokes modeling to find bottlenecks and predict congestion waves in real time, then issues adaptive speed guidance that dissipates them faster than passive routing.
Probabilistic Optimization of Continuous-Morphing Airfoil Geometries via Gaussian Process Surrogates and QAOA-Based Discrete Sampling (2025, Pending): Pairs Gaussian-process surrogate models with a quantum sampler (QAOA) to search morphing-airfoil shapes. The best design, checked in XFOIL, cut drag 9.3% and raised lift 37% over a NACA 2412 baseline.
Which Error Sources Dominate Hybrid Quantum–Classical Inertial Navigation? A Sobol’ Variance Decomposition Across Atmospheric GNSS-Denied and Cislunar Regimes (2026, Preprint): An open-source simulator of a cold-atom and classical hybrid navigator. Across 27,648 runs it holds a median 7.6 m after five minutes of GNSS jamming - 4.9× tighter than classical-only - and shows which error sources dominate.
The Joint Pareto Envelope of Heliocentric Circular Displaced Non-Keplerian Orbits Under the McInnes Optical Sail Force Model (2026, Preprint): Maps which solar-sail orbits stay reachable once a realistic optical sail replaces the ideal reflector: required lightness rises a median 1.23×, and a 55.5° thrust-cone ceiling removes 4.9% of the Earth-synchronous family.
Rao Revisited: A Reproducible Pareto Atlas of Supersonic Nozzle Contours via the Method of Characteristics with Compressible Boundary-Layer Correction (2026, Preprint · Open dataset): nozzlemoc, an open, tested Method-of-Characteristics reference implementation for supersonic rocket-nozzle design with a DOI-archived paper and dataset. It matches the textbook benchmark to 0.011%, reproduces the 1952 NACA Mach-10 nozzle, and finds a near-universal 0.550 turning ratio.
A Wave-Count Stability Atlas for the Koch–Kurosaka–Knowlen–Kutz Rotating Detonation Engine Analog (2026, Preprint · Open dataset): A rotating detonation engine picks its own wave count - push more propellant in and it jumps from 1 to 2 to 3 to 4 waves. 5,856 GPU simulations build the first two-parameter regime map of the standard reduced-order model, checked against engine data from six laboratories.

Projects

STRATOS: Subsonic flight-performance simulator, validated to 1.5% against Boeing 737-800 stall speed
Propulsion Studio: Assemble any of 9+ propulsion families and read live thrust, specific impulse, and thermal load
PORKCHOP: Lambert-solver Δv maps and multi-flyby Grand Tours, checked against Voyager 2 flyby dates and Perseverance C3
SWEEP: US-patented platform that captures orbital debris, compacts it into pellets, and fires them out of orbit - the recoil doubles as thrust
FlowState: Navier-Stokes traffic modeling that predicts congestion waves in real time and issues speed guidance to dissipate them
The Resonance Foundation: A 501(c)(3) I founded - music education and performances reaching thousands across DFW
Data Science Libraries: R libraries used internationally on Quarto-based data-science teaching templates

Awards

NASA TAS Moonshot - 1st Place: First place in the NASA TAS Moonshot challenge.
Bhagavad Gita Memorizer & World Record Participant: Memorized 800+ verses - 10,000+ Sanskrit words - of the Srimad Bhagavad Gita across a year of 30-40 hour weeks. Guinness World Records title holder for 'Largest simultaneous Hindu text recital', which took 2+ years of preparation.
FIRST Robotics Awards: FIRST Impact Award and Engineering Inspiration Award with Team 6369, plus the Autonomous Award twice. Two-time FIRST World Championship qualifier and Texas State qualifier; won the FIT Belton, Amarillo, and San Antonio competitions.
AIME Qualifier: Scored 118.5/150 on the AMC 12 to qualify for the American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME), then 7/15 on the AIME - the top 1% of all AMC competitors.
Heritage HS Wind Ensemble & Drumline: 1st place at the 2025 International Percussion Ensemble competition, performed at PASIC50 in Indianapolis. Outstanding Snare Line at the 2025 North Texas Drumline Contest, and contest winner in 2024. Three-time All-Region selection; currently on snare, at 40+ hours a week during peak season.
Business Professionals of America (BPA): 2026-27 Chapter President. Regional Champion in 2025 and 2026 (1st place, two-time State qualifier) and a two-time National Torch Award recipient. Top 10 finalist at the 2026 National Leadership Conference.
Conrad Challenge Innovator: 2026 Conrad Challenge Innovator.
HHS Computer Science Club: Scored Top 50 across Texas in 10th Grade & 5A Divisions.
HHS Math Honors Society: 1st Place General Math Team at UIL District Meet 2024-25.
Heritage High School Key Club: Secretary with over 150 members and various events throughout the year.

Experience

STEM Instructor, STEMTree (Jan 2025 – Present): Instructed and mentored elementary and middle school students in STEM disciplines and robotics to foster interest through hands-on activities and personally tailored lessons. Broke down complex concepts into age-appropriate lessons, allowing students to grasp advanced disciplines. Represented STEMTree at local outreach events, inspiring and captivating families through direct demonstration of STEM; promoted accessibility to direct FLL-style robotics to children at a young age.
Big Future Ambassador, The College Board (Aug 2025 – Present): Selected as a BigFuture Ambassador, supporting peers in exploring career paths, planning for college, and accessing scholarship opportunities through BigFuture. Actively collaborate with fellow ambassadors on a monthly basis to share resources, insights, and opportunities.
Teen Court Attorney & Juror, City of Allen (Jan 2025 – Jan 2026): Represent teenagers who have committed Class C misdemeanors. Follow court proceedings and provide legal defense to juvenile offenders. As a juror, serve alongside my peers to sentence offenders.
AI Intern and STEM Instructor, iCode School Franchise (Mar 2024 – Oct 2024): Collaborated to develop AI-driven tools and models to create an innovative curriculum for the iCode Franchise. Worked to create tools used by Instructors nationwide to help with instruction (including AI bots to aid students). Taught both weekly and summer camps in computer science, engineering, and core STEM disciplines to aspiring children, fostering their love for STEM through structured lessons and projects.

Independent Study & Mentorship

I spent my ISM year building STRATOS, a flight-performance simulator, under Dr. Giuseppe Cataldo, Assistant Chief for Technology at NASA Goddard - alongside five research assessments on quantum aerospace, CFD, autonomous flight, and supersonic versus subsonic flight, plus interviews with engineers at Lockheed Martin, NASA, and an aerospace startup. ISM is a competitive Frisco ISD elective that lets juniors and seniors study one career field independently through research, professional interviews, and mentorship.

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