Letter of Motivation

As a student of Space Science, the ambition of acquiring a higher education from prestigious
university is not surprising to me. In fact, in an era of globalization, society requires graduates
who are not only educated and intelligent, but also well-educated experts who can
comprehensively contribute in various disciplines. Overall, I want to apply my knowledge and
understanding of the degree for the betterment of humanity. As such, I am interested in pursuing
higher education in the field of Space engineering with an emphasis on Space Systems
Design/Satellite Engineering. Space technology is a most charming industry and has major
importance in point of view of national security and defense of a country in 20 th century but it
has a lot of challenges in the form different constraints. Mass, Power, Space and Cost are the
main constraints that we faced during the design and development of different subsystems of
satellite for a space mission. Pakistan is developing country and now actively trying to contribute
in satellite design and engineering but unfortunately we are facing a number of problems due to
the lack of different resources especially human resource power in space industry.
In regards to academic preparation, I am graduated in Space Science in the department of Space
Science at the Institute of Space Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan. My overall academic
performance at university is good. Though, I could have done well in some courses, I have
nevertheless learned a lot from areas where I am relatively weak. I would define my overall
academic performance as a reward for my devotion. In my undergraduate degree, no class
subject was ever considered as less important than the other. I always make sure that I put my
maximum effort all the time in all chosen subjects and areas of study.
During my high school years, I found that I enjoy the rigorous thinking demanded by
mathematics and physics. This influenced my decision to pursue Aerospace or Space Science as
my undergraduate major. When I started my undergraduate program, I came to know more about
the scope and applications of Space Science. I was more inclined towards research-oriented
fields such as Space engineering, Satellite Design and Space Systems Design. In developing
countries like Pakistan there is lack of highly qualified professionals in Space System Design and
Space Engineering, and I believe that I can fill these gaps to some degree.
The field of study in which I want to peruse higher education are Space Engineering and Space
Systems Design and complexities. The knowledge of Space engineering and Space System
Design enables us to comprehend space complexities and design innovative space systems.
Mass, space, power, cost and space environment are the critical concerns. The demand for
knowledge and applied skills in Space engineering is increasing with the passage of time.
Proficiency in the above-mentioned fields is necessary to prosper in the field of science and
technology. I have developed logical reasoning, through my knowledge and experience and I
believe that my robust analytical skills would be very beneficial to excel in these fields. My
curiosity about the afore-mentioned subjects is further developed due to their diversity and useful
applications.
Throughout my academic career, I have been inclined towards research and problem-solving and
my teachers have always encouraged me in this regard. I am keen to acquire first-rate education
in research-oriented academic setup, and develop my research skills with latest methods and
techniques in my chosen fields of study. During my undergraduate degree, I have been studied
various courses that have allowed me a good understanding of the fundamental concepts of space
engineering and space systems design. Furthermore, I have good command on MATLAB on
which, I have worked extensively during my BS research thesis.
The proper research that I undertook in my BS degree has made me comprehensively familiar
with the practice and methods of research in general and brought me up to date with existing
research problems in my areas of research in particular. There are many important prevailing
research problems that I am interested in investigating, such as: Design of attitude control system
(ACS) for nanosatellite, Low cost, power, size and mass ACS design, Exploring the space
missions and enhancement of knowledge toward the satellites technology. One of these issues,
Design of ACS for nanosatellite and low cost, size, power and mass design, was studied in my
BS research thesis. In this research, we present a novel design which integrates printed
embedded coils, compact coils and magnetic rods in a single package which is also complaint
with 1U CubeSat. My BS thesis has three parts and abstract or paper of each part is accepted at
top tier international satellite conferences (Malaysia, China, France and USA) for presentation
and publication. “Optimized Design and Analysis of Printed magnetorquer for
Nanosatellite” paper is accepted for presentation and publication in DyCoSS2018
Changsha, China. “Optimized Design and Analysis of Compact magnetorquer for
nanosatellite” is accepted for poster presentation in iCubeSat 2018-7 th interplanetary
CubeSat Workshop, Paris, France. “Optimized Design and Analysis of Magnetorquer Rod
for Cubesat” accepted for (4th ICCI-SEM 2018) on 17 – 18 August 2018 at Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia. “Analysis and Design of Integrated Magnetorquer Coils for Attitude Control of
Nanosatellite” paper is accepted for poster presentation and publication in 32 nd Annual
AIAA/USU Conference on Small Satellites, Logan, USA.
“Design of Attitude Control System for Nanosatellite” presented at Student Research
Paper Conference-2018. "Analysis and Design of Integrated Magnetorquer Coils for
Attitude Control of Nanosatellite" Research Paper Published at European Cubesat
Symposium (Paris-2018). "Optimized Design and Thermal Analysis of Printed
Magnetorquer for Attitude Control of Reconfigurable Nanosatellites" Research Paper has
been published in IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronics Systems ( ISSN: 0018-
9251). Experimental testing is done in Electronics Lab and Space Systems Lab with 1U Cubesat.

I have done my internship at SSL (Space Systems lab) in IST (Institute of Space Technology).
My overall experience as an intern was very pleasant. I have learned many new concepts about
Space environment using SPENVIS like Spacecraft charging, LEO environment parameters,
Satellite illumination, radiation Analysis for Space, Contamination, Particle interaction,
Radiation sources and effects. Furthermore, I became familiar with Meteoroids and Debris and
Mission Simulation using GMAT. I have learned different commands like how to analyze the
space environment data. I have also learned, how to analyze a spacecraft environment and
analyzed ICUBE-1 and ICUBE-2 environment. During my internship apart from scientific
knowledge, I also learned that how office work is done effectively and efficiently and got the
training in the Student Small Satellite (SSS) Second Summer Camp, co-organized by Asia-
Pacific Space Corporation Organization and Middle East Technical University (METU) in
Turkey, duly supported by TUBITAK-UZAY. The second summer camp of Student Small
Satellite project was organized for three weeks; concentrating on detailed development of
technologies in the micro/nano satellite platform/subsystems including the EPS, OBDH, ADCS,
Structure & Mechanism, Thermal Control, etc. I have also learned through extra training in my
field of study by attending workshops on “Workshop on Small Satellite Design and
Development by Prof. Dr. Leonardo Reyneri (Italy)”, “Small Satellite Design and its
Applications by Dr. Yuxiaozhou (China), Dr. Leonardo Reyneri, Dr. Alim Rustem Aslan
(Turkey)”, “Moving Towards Nanosatellite Technology by Dr. Yuxiaozhou, Dr. Leonardo
Reyneri, Dr. Khurram Khursheed (Pakistan), Dr. Rizwan Mughal (Pakistan), Dr.
Moazzam Maqsood (Pakistan)” and “Interactive CUBESAT Design Workshop by Dr. Alim
Rustem Aslan” at ICASE-2017, Institute of Space Technology (IST), Islamabad, 2017, which is
assisted me a lot in my BS research thesis.
After graduation, I also attended these fruitful workshops at International Conference on
Aerospace Science & Engineering in Institute of Space Technology, Islamabad. “Space Mission
Analysis and Design by Dr. Jaan Praks (Finland) at ICASE-2019” This workshop is designed to
introduce the concepts of designing and analysis of a space mission; the focus of the course will
be on orbital mechanics, orbital maneuvers, satellite subsystems, trajectory planning & design
and launch systems. The course covered the following main streams of SMAD: Conceptual
mission design, defining top-level mission requirements, mission operational concepts, mission
operations analysis and design, estimating space system cost, S/C design development,
verification and validation and system design review. “CubeSat Design Workshop by Dr. Alim
Rustem Aslan at ICASE-2019”, in this workshop, participant worked in teams leading to
designing of CubeSat on the basis of Satellite Mission and Payloads. During this workshop, the
participants identified the requirements of payload, identified subsystems and their respective
properties, selection of sub-systems from Commercial of the Shelf systems, Mass, Power and
Form Factor Estimations for CubeSat, Development of Block Diagram and computer Aided
Model of CubeSat

I am very active in extra-curricular activities as well. I am pretty good at cricket, marathon and
volleyball, and have won several competitions at my university. During university, I was Student
Representative of Space Science Department (2017-2018), the vice-captain (2014-2017) and
captain (2018) of Volleyball team of my department. I am honored to state that my performance
as a vice captain and captain has been excellent; I led the team to victory got runner up position
in 2015 and 2018, and won the interdepartmental volleyball championship in 2016. I also got 8 th
position in marathon of 5km. I was a permanent Volunteer of UMEED (a welfare society) for
three years at Institute of Space Technology (IST) and also in leading role in UMEED Welfare
academy for street and needy kids at Soan Garden, Islamabad. Now Started college student base
welfare society and working as head (UMEED! WE SHALL CHANGE-FORT ABBAS) in home town
for needy and street kids by the permission of Vice-Chancellor of Institute Space Technology, Islamabad .
This captaincy of volleyball team, student representation of SS Department and Volunteering at
UMEED has helped me a lot in developing leadership skills. Besides developing leadership
skills, involvement in extra-curricular activities has taught me two important skills. First of all,
how to tackle pressure situations and secondly, how to survive in competitive environment. I am
well aware of the fact that these skills will be very beneficial for me in academic and practical
life.
Moreover, I have been involved in management and organization of different activities while
being a university student, such as sports contests, quiz programs, UMEED Children Gala, IST
Youth Carnival ad World Space week (WSW). These stints have helped me learn how to deal
with people and how to make swift and practical decisions when encountered by complications.
There are very few experts in my chosen fields of study in Pakistan, and I hope to play my part
in filling this void. I would be keen to get involved in research activities and look forward to
using my energies towards promoting the research environment wherever I work.
Knowledge about the subject would surely be enhanced during the course of acquiring a master
degree from your country. I feel confident that it would provide me a solid platform from which I
can continue my academic and research activities in the future. In the future, I see myself coming
back to Pakistan and contributing significantly after acquiring my postgraduate degree. I find the
research-oriented environment very exciting and interesting, and I will be looking forward to a
professional career in an academic institution.