St. Louis

Hello AIAA St. Louis Section,

My name is Vrishank Vadi, and I am a high school student in Missouri interested in astronautical robotics, spacecraft autonomy, guidance, navigation and control, and AI for aerospace systems.

I am currently gaining early research exposure through Missouri S&T in astronautical robotics and GNC with Dr. Henry Pernicka, and I have also been getting involved with the M-SAT/DEXSTR team environment, where I am learning more about satellite coding, onboard data handling, and spacecraft systems. At school, I lead robotics programming and am working to build stronger skills in controls, autonomy, simulation, and AI-based navigation.

I am posting here because I would really appreciate connecting with aerospace engineers, researchers, students, or mentors in the St. Louis area who work in spacecraft systems, robotics, autonomy, satellite engineering, aerospace software, or related fields.

I am not looking for anything huge right away. I would be grateful for mentorship, project guidance, paper recommendations, feedback on a small simulation idea, or even a short conversation about how to build toward serious aerospace research. I am especially interested in projects involving spacecraft navigation, rover autonomy, safe AI, sensor fusion, CubeSats, or verification of autonomous systems.

My goal is to become useful early, learn the fundamentals the right way, and contribute wherever I can, even if that starts with documentation, simulation testing, literature review, or replicating a research paper.

If anyone would be open to giving advice or pointing me toward a good opportunity, I would really appreciate it.

Thank you,
Vrishank Vadi