I study physics, maths and aerospace systems, and I like design problems where every choice has to be defended with evidence.
I'm a Year 12 student on the Sunshine Coast, and aerospace engineering is where I'm headed. I hold a Certificate III in Aviation and a remote pilot licence, and I did a week of work experience at McDermott Aviation. At school I study Mathematical Methods, Specialist Mathematics, Physics, Aerospace Systems and Legal Studies. Away from study I play lead trombone, referee basketball and shoot photography.
Coolum State High School Sunshine Coast, Queensland
Cert IIIin Aviation
Remote pilotlicence, 25 kg
McDermott Aviationwork experience
5 reportsin physics and aerospace
QLD State HonoursEnsemble, 2025 and 2026
Work by subject
Investigations and reports from my Year 12 subjects: Mathematical Methods, Specialist Mathematics, Physics, Aerospace Systems and Legal Studies. Full reports are available on request.
Aerospace Systems
A rocket redesign and two design reports on real aviation problems.
Emergency beacon rocket redesign
Design project
A wilderness tour company's beacon failed to trigger when a hiker needed rescue. I redesigned the rocket to clear a ravine (over 96 m, 18+ seconds of flight) and deploy a distress signal on landing, justifying every component against criteria I set. A prototype with the clipped delta fins flew to 68 m, short of that target.
Carbon fibre body tube at 1,035 MPa tensile strength, clipped delta fins that cut drag by 92 N at Mach 2.5 in published CFD data, and a barometric altimeter backed up by a timer so one failed sensor cannot repeat the original failure.
I compared weather-data services, sound barriers and building treatments against ICAO noise principles, operations and safety, then ranked them in a scoring matrix.
Selected Spire Aviation atmospheric data, IAC Acoustics barriers (10 to 15 dB reduction at ground level) and acoustic windows for homes.
Recommendations to the RAAF, starting from the 2018 engine fan disk fracture. I looked at aircraft performance, navigation, airspace management and human performance as one connected system.
Ti-575 titanium alloy for the engine hub, the BAE Striker II helmet display (40° field of view against 20°), Spire weather data (1.4 to 225 profiles a day) and SAFTE-FAST fatigue modelling.
An investigation into solar sails and an experiment on magnetic force.
Photon momentum thrust for deep-space travel
Investigation, August 2026
Can the momentum carried by photons push a spacecraft hard enough for deep-space travel? I compared theoretical radiation pressure, telemetry from JAXA's IKAROS mission and torsion balance measurements of light force from a published lab experiment.
The evidence agrees with the ideal benchmark of 9.08 × 10⁻⁶ Pa at 1 AU. IKAROS recorded a real force of 1.12 mN, and the torsion balance showed force rising linearly with optical power.
Relationship between magnetic force and the angle of a wire
Experiment, May 2026
I measured the force on a current-carrying wire at 10° steps through a full rotation, then linearised the data against sin θ to test F = BIL sin θ.
Correlation of R = 0.9958. The experimental gradient was 0.0079 N against a theoretical 0.0090 N, a 12.2% difference that I traced to damaged magnets, edge effects and manual rotation.
Assessed offshore processing under the Migration Act 1958 against the Refugee Convention and the ICCPR, including a 2025 UN Human Rights Committee finding on Nauru.
Compared two reforms and recommended onshore processing with community residence determinations under s 197AB, because it needs an amendment rather than a new legal system.
Software I use for analysis, design and communication. I'm honest about the level, because it's what an employer can rely on.
Engineering and analysis
DesmosGraphing and modelling data
Microsoft 365Excel data work, Word reports, PowerPoint
OpenRocketRocket design and flight simulation
Logger ProLab data capture and curve fitting
Visual Studio CodeWriting and editing code
Visual and media
Adobe LightroomPhoto editing and grading
Adobe PhotoshopImage editing and graphics
Adobe Premiere ProVideo editing
Certified
Certificate III in AviationNationally recognised qualification
Remote pilot licenceDrones up to 25 kg
Basketball Queensland refereeSince 2022
confident working basic
About
With my aerospace class
I'm in Year 12, and I'm heading toward aerospace engineering. What I enjoy most is taking a question that sounds impossible, such as whether light can power a spacecraft to the outer Solar System, and finding out what the evidence says.
Outside study I play trombone and basketball, train at the gym and shoot photography, which you can see on Instagram at @denverpaul368.
AviationCertificate III in Aviation and a remote pilot licence (25 kg)
Work experienceMcDermott Aviation: body panel cleaning, helicopter fuel draining, and paint mixing in the controlled environment room
Physics and mathematicsMathematical Methods, Specialist Mathematics and Physics; Gold Award for Year 12 Academic Excellence, 2026
LeadershipBasketball Queensland referee since 2022, Sunshine Coast Phoenix Junior Representative Referee of the Year 2024, Noosa Basketball Referee of the Season 2026, and mentor to new referees
MusicLead trombone in the Coolum State High School Wind Symphony, Queensland State Honours Ensemble 2025 and 2026, AMEB Grade 5, Platinum Music Award
Beyond the classroom
Music, sport and photography, and what each has taught me about performing under pressure.
🎺
Trombone
Lead trombone for the Coolum State High School Wind Symphony since 2021, and for the Sunshine Coast Youth Orchestra in 2021 and 2022. I'm AMEB Grade 5, and I've been selected for the Queensland State Honours Ensemble Program in 2025 and 2026, after four years in the Sunshine Coast program.
🏀
Basketball
Set an angle and speed, then shoot.
I've refereed for Basketball Queensland and the Sunshine Coast Phoenix since 2022, named Junior Representative Referee of the Year in 2024 and Noosa Basketball Referee of the Season in 2026. Officiating means reading a fast, high-pressure situation and making a clear call under time pressure, which carries over well into engineering work.
📷
Photography
I shoot automotive and event photography on a Fujifilm XM5, mostly at car meets on the Sunshine Coast. It's a separate project from my engineering work, but it's taught me to frame a problem before I commit to a shot.
Year 12 Physics investigation, August 2026. Claim: deep space exploration is possible with solar sails.
Sunlight pushes on a sail, and that push fades with the square of distance. This is the relationship behind my solar sail investigation.
Objective
Chemical rockets are limited by the fuel they must carry. A solar sail uses sunlight instead, but each photon carries almost no momentum. I set out to test whether that force is large enough to matter, using the question: does photon momentum give a thrust pressure at or above 9.08 × 10⁻⁶ Pa at 1 AU, enough for practical deep-space propulsion?
Process
I derived the benchmark first. For a perfectly reflective sail, radiation pressure is 2I/c. With the solar constant of about 1361 W/m² this gives 9.08 × 10⁻⁶ Pa at 1 AU, and it falls with the inverse square of distance. I then chose three published sources that test the idea at different scales, and evaluated each one.
Source
What it shows
Limit I identified
Ancona, Kezerashvili and Longo (2025), pressure model
Pressure rises from about 8 µN/m² at 1 AU to about 830 µN/m² at 0.1 AU, a hundredfold increase.
Preprint, not yet peer reviewed, and includes a thermal effect beyond photon pressure.
JAXA, IKAROS mission
Measured thrust of 1.12 mN against an ideal prediction of about 1.8 mN, and a velocity curve that departed from the no-sunlight prediction after the sail opened.
A single inner Solar System flight, so sail shape and attitude could contribute.
Russell et al. (2025), torsion pendulum
In the lab, force rose linearly with optical power and followed the 1/c relationship, at under 10 piconewtons of sensitivity.
Tiny scale, and measured in air rather than a vacuum.
Results
All three sources point the same way. IKAROS reached about 60% of the ideal force by my calculation from the report's figures, the same order of magnitude, which is consistent with a sail that is not perfectly reflective or square to the Sun. The lab work confirms the mechanism, and the model shows how sharply thrust grows near the Sun.
Limitations and what I learned
None of the sources tests outer Solar System performance directly. Because their limits are independent (an unreviewed model, a single mission and a lab-scale test), agreement between them is stronger evidence than any one alone. I concluded the claim is supported: a sail cannot match a rocket's instant thrust, but continuous acceleration with no propellant suits long missions.
Illustrative layout, not to scale. Hover a part to highlight it, or launch the rocket to watch the recovery sequence. The target was over 96 m of altitude and 18+ seconds of flight.
Objective
A wilderness tour company's beacon did not trigger when a hiker needed rescue from a ravine. The brief was a rocket that clears the ravine walls (over 96 m altitude and 18+ seconds of flight) and reliably deploys a distress signal on landing. I wrote four success criteria and judged every design choice against them.
Process
I treated each subsystem as its own engineering problem, compared realistic options and chose using evidence rather than instinct.
Subsystem
Options compared
Decision and reason
Body tube
Carbon fibre, PVC, aluminium
Carbon fibre, judged on strength-to-weight and heat stability: 1,035 MPa tensile strength and stable above 300°C.
Fins
Clipped delta and rectangular
Clipped delta. Published CFD data showed 92 N less drag at Mach 2.5, while still performing competitively at subsonic speeds. I weighed that trade-off rather than assuming.
Recovery
Built-in redundancy
A barometric altimeter as the main parachute trigger with a backup timer, so one sensor failure cannot repeat the original failure.
Payload
Beacon placement
Positioned so the beacon survived a simulated impact and could signal after landing.
The altimeter is the main trigger and the timer is the backup, so one failed sensor does not stop recovery.
I checked my logic against a process flowchart: design, build, test, analyse flight data and redesign if a criterion was not met, rather than treating the first design as final.
Results
A prototype with the clipped delta fins flew to 68 m, short of the target of over 96 m, so the altitude criterion was not met. In testing, the tube held its shape under launch stress, the fins kept the rocket stable, the payload survived impact and the dual-trigger recovery deployed reliably.
Limitations and what I learned
I ran a SWOT analysis on my own design. Its weaknesses are the cost of carbon fibre at scale, no visibility aids for search teams and untested performance in humid or freezing conditions. The main lesson is to defend each decision with evidence, quantify the trade-off and name the risk that is still unresolved.
Relationship between magnetic force and the angle of a wire
Year 12 Physics experiment, May 2026
Drag the angle. The wire turns in the field, the gauge compares theory (dashed) with my measured force, and the line marks that angle on my data (five-trial means with uncertainty).
Objective
Does the angle between a current-carrying wire and a magnetic field change the force on the wire? With 5 A through a 0.02 m wire in a 0.07 T field, I turned the angle in 10° steps through 360° to test F = BIL sin θ.
What I did
I took five trials at each angle, converted the balance readings to force with F = mg, and plotted force against angle (a sine curve) and against sin θ (a straight line) to test the relationship.
Results
The data followed F ∝ sin θ, with a correlation of R = 0.9958. Force peaked at 7.7 mN at 90° and reversed beyond 180°. The experimental gradient was 0.0079 N against a theoretical 0.0090 N, a 12.2% difference.
Limitations and what I learned
Damaged magnets and edge effects meant the field was not uniform, and turning the magnet by hand caused alignment errors. Error bars show many differences from theory sit within uncertainty, and near 0° small absolute errors give large percentage differences, so those points are the least reliable.
Year 12 Aerospace Systems design report, February 2026
How much noise each option removes
Sound barriers
10–15 dB
Vegetation buffers
6–11 dB
Low-noise pavement
4–9 dB
Weight the five criteria I used for building treatments and watch the ranking change. With my equal weighting acoustic windows score 26/30. Ranges show reduction in decibels.
Objective
Reduce aircraft noise for the community around Sunshine Coast Airport by comparing solutions in three categories (Bureau of Meteorology technology, airport operations infrastructure and on-site safety solutions), then proposing an ICAO Annex 16 rule change for the best option.
What I did
I scored weather data providers (Spire Aviation 27/30, Tomorrow.io 25/30, weather drones 18/30, against 12/30 for current practice), compared barriers, pavement and vegetation on noise reduction, and ranked building treatments on five criteria.
Results
Spire Aviation gives 225 atmospheric profiles a day against about 1.4 now. Sound barriers cut ground noise by 10 to 15 dB, and acoustic windows scored highest for homes at 26/30.
Limitations and what I learned
A ranking depends on how the criteria are weighted, which is why the tool above lets you change them. With my equal weighting acoustic windows lead, but weighting cost and installation practicality heavily puts acoustic panels ahead.
My weather risk matrix. Select a cell. Each score multiplies a likelihood factor by a severity factor, so 9 is the highest risk.
Objective
After the 2018 engine fan disk fracture on an RAAF F/A-18, improve the aircraft's safety and reliability by treating performance, navigation, airspace management and human performance as one connected system.
What I did
I compared options in each area, used risk and PMI analysis to choose between them, and built a weather risk matrix to judge which conditions are acceptable to fly in.
Results
Recommended Ti-575 titanium alloy for the engine hub, the BAE Striker II helmet display (40° field of view against 20°, a 100% increase), Spire weather data (1.4 to 225 profiles a day) and SAFTE-FAST fatigue modelling.
Reading the matrix
Each cell multiplies a likelihood factor by a severity factor, so scores of 1 to 2 are low, 3 to 4 medium and 6 to 9 high. It ranks conditions to prioritise; it does not replace a forecaster's judgement.
Australians aged 16 to 24 with a mental disorder in the past year
38.8%
Children aged 10 to 15 who had used social media
96%
Children aged 10 to 15 who had experienced cyberbullying
52%
Teens who struggle to control social media use (WHO)
11%
Figures from my report (ABS, eSafety Commissioner, WHO). Then explore the viewpoints and the two alternatives I compared.
Objective
Should Australia keep its under-16 social media ban, or use a different law to protect young people's mental health? The report weighs the Online Safety Amendment Act 2024 against youth safety, privacy and human rights concerns, and recommends a reform.
What I did
I set out the numbers, the current law and two viewpoints, tested two alternatives against the characteristics of effective law (clear, fair, enforceable, known and responsive to social needs), and chose the strongest.
Results
Recommended a Platform Design Accountability Law, amending the Online Safety Act 2021 so platforms must reduce addictive design and harmful algorithms, rather than only controlling access by age.
Limits of the recommendation
It would be hard to enforce against international companies and would need regular updates as technology changes. The under-16 law is also new, so its long-term effect on mental health is not yet known.
Select a date to see how each law or event fits into the argument, then explore the viewpoints and two alternatives.
Objective
Is Australia's offshore detention and processing an effective legal response to asylum seekers who arrive by boat? I measured it against both the Migration Act 1958 and Australia's international human rights obligations.
What I did
I mapped the law and key cases, weighed the arguments of supporters and critics, and compared two reforms against the characteristics of effective law: fair, enforceable, accountable and consistent with international obligations.
Results
Recommended onshore processing with community-based residence determinations under s 197AB of the Migration Act, because it needs an amendment rather than a new legal system and keeps decisions under Australian judicial review.
Limits of the recommendation
Critics argue onshore processing could weaken deterrence, so its success depends on efficient processing, strong border enforcement and regional cooperation. Retaining offshore processing with stronger safeguards would improve the current system but may not fix harms critics link to the offshore model itself.
