Polarians – AREX

The Polarians are the official alumni of Project Polaris. These are young college students and professionals who made a significant contribution to the program and whose passion for space goes beyond words. Whether helping with design, planning activities, assembling components, or solving equations, these are real contributors to the globalization of space. Becoming a Polarian is one of the highest honors in Project Polaris since it signifies that a member was able to endure cultural, educational, and technological challenges under a genuine conviction based on our program’s vision: to build one space. This is why the Polarians are kept together by the motto, sola stella – omni uniti, i.e., one star, all united.

To learn more about our Polarians, you can click on the plus sign on each of them. Polarians with a yellow background have been recipients of a Polaris award. You can also filter them by country, school, and team by using keywords in the search bar below such as , “Purdue University”, “Costa Rica”, “Social Media Group”, “Chief”, “ITCR”, etc.

Alexandre Pierre Rémi Benoist Structures Member

Alexandre is an aerospace engineering student at ESTACA. He joined the Polaris project in 2020 to take part to the globalization of space as a Structures Team member. He also had the opportunity to travel to Costa Rica to meet other members of the project, to discover the Pura Vida and to work on the star rover !

Andrés Jiménez Mora Actuation - Dynamics Member

Andrés is a Mechatronics Engineering student at TEC in Costa Rica. He joined Project Polaris for the advance program as a member of the controls subteam in 2021. Within controls he worked on the designed and development of a controller for the locomotion of the rover. During September of 2022 he went to the IAC in Paris to present the paper of his subteam and discovered the amazing French pastries.

Aarón Navarro Pérez Hosting & Travel / Community Member

Aaron is a student in industrial production engineering. He joined the Hosting & Travel and Community teams, and with them carried out activities for all the members.

Anuhya Edupuganti Structures Chief

She is a mechanical engineering student from Purdue University with great enthusiasm for learning new things. She is interested in projects in space exploration, biomedical engineering, or any field promising rapid innovation. In her spare time, she likes to paint and explore different art mediums.

Arnaud Somville Dynamics

Arnaud is a French 4th year Aerospace engineering student in ESTACA. Member since the Basic program ( Propulsion and Social Media group member), he was member of the Dynamic subteam in the Advanced Program. In summer 2022 he fell in love with Costa Rica during the summer space camp.

Benjamin Wurgler Propulsion Chief

Benjamin is an aerospace engineering student at Estaca aiming to work in the field of space propulsion. He worked as chief of the propulsion team. Benjamin came to costa Rica to work on the propulsion of the rover, to meet his Costa Rican colleagues, and to visit the country.

Charlotte Giroud Propulsion Chief

In progress ...

Christian Jesús Arguedas Maceo Actuation Member

Christian is an electronic engineering student at TEC Costa Rica. He joined the Project Polaris Advance program with the purpose of helping in the design and implementation of the controller for the Rover in the Control Team, later called the Actuation Team. During this process he worked with people from other countries with whom he discovered the many types of workflow and ways to distribute it.

Dayanna Vargas Madrigal Admin

Dayanna is an mechanical engineer student at UCR in Costa Rica. She joined Project Polaris as an Admin in 2022 and was assigned to the Hosting & Travel team. During the program she enjoyed to share with mates and organize activities.

Dominik Gentner Dynamics Member

Working on this project this year has made me aware of how complex it is to realize such an international project. I am glad to have met and got to know so many people from different backgrounds with different cultures, perspectives and various study programs. All this creates an atmosphere contributing to new ideas while nourishing open-mindedness in all of us. It has been an extraordinary year and I am looking forward to the next one! For one space!

Elian Andrey Pérez García Electronics Chief - Structures Member

Elian is a final year student of Mechatronics Engineering at the Costa Rican Institute of Technology. Hi is a charismatic, empathetic and equanimous person, he is someone who likes to help, learn and share his knowledge. Elian is very passionate about technology, especially everything related to exploration and the aerospace industry.

Fiorella Mata Lobo Financial Team Member

Fiorella is an industrial engineering student from Costa Rica Institute of Technology. She joined Project Polaris in 2020 and worked as a member of the financial team. She also worked few months as a member of the JISP(Joint Industry Study Program).Fiorella got an internship in Costa Rica with PREINSA and she enjoyed and learned a lot with them.

Isaí Fonseca Mission Profile

Isaí is a physics student at UCR. He joined Polaris as a Structures Chief in 2020. He worked on Structures but then switched to Mission Profile since it fitted perfectly with his major.

Jose Fabio Navarro Naranjo General Design Chief

A student of Mechatronics Engineering at Costa Rican Institute of Technology, which is very interested in the aerospace field, trying to increase his knowledge and experience to work to promote aerospace development in Costa Rica in the future.

Kevin Andrey Sánchez Ramírez Mission Profile Member

Kevin is a Costa Rican passionate about engineering, science, and space. He's currently in his 4th-year of industrial engineering at UCR, and also working as student worker at Intel Corporation. He has participated in different space projects as national coordinator for MVA, of the Costa Rican Space Directory, the creation of the Liftoff CR podcast and in student groups such as TECSpace and Polaris. Kevin loves to play and watch soccer, go for walks with his family and enjoy time with his friends.

Kevin Andrey Gómez Villagra Electronics Member

Kevin is an advanced student of Electronic Engineering at the Technological Institute of Costa Rica, he joined the Electronics team in April 2021, he has worked on the design of the Star Rover power distribution system and its respective tests in the action stage.

Léo Barataud Structures Member

Leo is a 4th year aerospace engineering student at ESTACA school in France. Passionate about space exploration since childhood, he joined Project Polaris as a Structures team member to participate in the future of humanity!

Marianela Arias Hidalgo Chemistry & Heat Transfer Chief - General Design Member

Marianela began her studies at TEC but now she is a fourth-year student at The College of Idaho in the United States. She enjoys participating in research projects and Project Polaris have become one of her favorite ones. She loves her family and her contry Costa Rica, and she is enthusiastic about Costa Rica's future in the aerospace field.

Mariel Gabriela Valeriano Ramos Mission Profile Member

Mariel is a mechatronics student at the Universidad Católica Boliviana de San Pablo. Lover of science, physics, mathematics and space, she joined the Polaris Project in February 2022 as a member of the Mission Profile group. Her path in science began as a participant and winner of Science Olympiads in high school and as a big fan of Richard Feynman.

Mattia Keyrouz Chemistry & Heat Transfer Chief

Mattia is an aerospace engineering student from ESTACA since 2019. He grew up in Lebanon and decided to move to France because of his passion for aerospace. He joined Project Polaris in 2020 and was one of the chiefs of the chemistry and heat transfer team. Mattia worked on the working fluid and chemical reaction decisions.

Melissa Aline Audrey Rottier General Design Chief

Melissa is an aerospace engineering student at ESTACA that joined Project Polaris in 2020 as a General Design Chief. She is crazy about space exploration, and a hovering rover on Titan was exactly what she dreamed of !

Nicolas Jean Quetglas Structures Member

Nicolas is an aerospace engineering student from ESTACA. He joined project Polaris in 2020 and worked as a member in the Structures team. Nicolas went to Costa Rica during Summer 2020 where he worked on components of the Star Rover while volunteering and visiting the country. He's a very shy person but he knows how to have fun with his friends!

Sharey Pheron Finance Member

Sharey is a railway student at ESTACA in France. She joined the project in 2020 as Social Media member and worked as a member of the Financial Team. During the summer of 2022 she had an internship at INCOFER. The time she spent with the Polarian will stay in her memory. She discovers the agua dulce and the gallo pinto which quickly became her favorite dishes.

Tom Alves Propulsion and Chemistry & Heat Transfer Member

This person is someone calm who will always be listenning you if needed. In work, this is not the most motivated but he will support you as he can if you need some help. He is always looking for a different point of view to make things better.

Sivakami Ramakrishnan Social Media Group Member

Sivakami is a junior at Purdue University studying English Literature and Public Relations & Strategic Communication. In her free time, she likes to listen to music and watch TV shows.

Ana Paula Alvarado Ortiz Hosting & Travel Director

Ana Paula is an Industrial Production Engineering student at TEC in Costa Rica. She joined Project Polaris as an Admin in 2020 for the Basic Program and worked as the main contact between TEC and Polaris. During the Advance program she worked as an Admin for the first third and as Director of Hosting and Travel for the rest of the period, still as the main contact between TEC and Polaris, managing to organize with her team the first edition of the Tropical Space Camp and the presentation of the Rover at the IAC 2022 in Paris.

Arantza Irais Acosta Pargas Social Media Group Member

Arantza is a future physics student from Venezuela. She joined Polaris in 2021 as part of the Social Media Group and worked alongside her team as she learned new design and editing techniques that she brought to the project.

Anson Wu Connectivity Head

Anson is an aerospace engineering student at Purdue University. He joined Project Polaris as the head of the Systems Connectivity team in 2021.

Astrée Deshayes Chemistry and Heat Transfer Member

4th year aerospace engineering student in the french enginering school ESTACA, Astrée is passionate by the space field and more generally by sciences. She already achieved a double degree in physics and chemistry. She joined the Polaris project in March 2021 in the Chemistry and Heat transfer team. She helped finding the best chemical reaction of H2 to use for the Rover that allows buoyancy and movement.

Brigitte Karina Gómez Quirós Hosting & Travel Member

Brigitte is a student of Industrial Production Engineering from the Costa Rican Institute of Technology. She joined the Project Polaris as a member of the Hosting and Travel Team. She organized and enjoyed different activities that brought together some of the Polaris members.

Chloé Pasquier Admin

Co-founder of Project Polaris, Chloé has been leading the project in the Admins team for 2 years. As an aerospace student, she is the representative for all students coming from her school ESTACA in France. With the project, she worked 5 months in Costa Rica during the summer of 2021 and took part in the IAC in Paris in 2022. She is proud to be a Polarian.

Clay Felipe Charry Pinzón Connectivity and Finance Member

Clay is a Systems and Computing Engineering student at Los Andes University in Colombia. He is passionate about space and Physics, which led him to join Project Polaris as Connectivity and Budgeting teams member in 2021. Now, with the experience gained during the advanced program of Polaris, he aims to become a Space Systems Engineer and work in the aerospace industry someday.

Davide Demartini Thruster Systems Member

Davide is an aerospace student at Luleå University of Technology, Sweden. He joined the propulsion team of Project Polaris in February 2022 and he worked on the development of the feed subsystem and the thrusters. He participated to the Action Stage in summer 2022 where he fell in love with the Pura Vida lifestyle.

Dalian Chuquizán Sotomayor Chemical Unit Member

Dalian is a biotechnology and agricultural engineering student at Polytechnic University of Valencia in Spain. Driven by curiosity in space field, she joined Project Polaris in 2021, as member of the chemical unit subteam. She is passionate about science, specially in genetics engineering, and is looking forward to be part of scientific research projects.

Diego Lopez Guerrero Instrumentation Head

Being part of Polaris family has been one of the greatest experiences I have had so far. Getting to know people from all around the globe that are as passionate as I am about space and learning about their cultures at the same time as developing such a cool project truly amazing. Polaris gave me some of my best friends, the opportunity to visit two new countries, writing a scientific paper and presenting it at one the most important space congress in the world. All of that in just one year, crazy.

Erick Alejandro Muñoz Alvarado Electronics Member

Erick is a computer engineer who joined project Polaris on 2021 as a member of the instrumentation and control team, there he worked on the definition and design of possible solutions to the scientific objectives. He also helped with the base design of the control subsystem.

Gabriel Orlando González Rodríguez Rover Structures Member

Gabriel is a mechatronics engineering student from Tecnológico de Costa Rica, as well as a computing student from Universidad de Costa Rica. He worked as a member of the General Design team in 2020, when he joined Project Polaris, and 2021, as well as in the Rover Structures team in 2022. Gabriel has always had an interest in robotics, electronics and programming and he is pursuing a career path that involves it.

Gabriela Stephania Inurreta Valdes Content and Community Member

Gabriela is an architecture student at the Universidad Autónoma de Coahuila in Mexico. She joined Project Polaris in the community and content team where she worked in social media publicizing the project while internally helping to carry out activities so that there was a community with the entire polaris family.

Jerry Joseph Varghese Admin

Jerry is an Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering student at Purdue University in the United States. He joined Project Polaris as a Software and Simulation member in 2020 and became an administrator in 2021 for the Advanced Stage. During the Fall of 2022 he traveled with Project Polaris to present at the International Astronautical Congress in Paris, France.

Josué Daniel Morera Ramírez Instrumentation Member

Josué is a mechatronics engineering student from Technological Institute of Costa Rica. He joined Polaris in 2020 and work as member on the General Design Team, and finished being part of the Instrumentation Subteam from Electronics. Josué is from Costa Rica and he worked from there during the basic program designing, planning and organizing the rover and the mission during the basic program. Also he had the opportunity to contibute building the rover in San Carlos during the Tropical Space Camp.

Kole Montgomery McGinn Admin

Kole is Design Engineer at SuperATV. He enjoys attitude dynamics, controls, and JDM cars. He hopes to work on satellite electromechanics one day in the future.

Mariana Londoño Orozco Dynamics Head

Mariana is a Physics Engineer and Mathematics and Master in Science - Physics at Universidad Nacional de Colombia. She joined Project Polaris as Dynamics Head in 2021 and worked on the mathematical model and simulation of the Star Rover. During the summer of 2022 she visited Costa Rica where she worked on the rover and discovered amazing people and places. She also went to the IAC on September 2022 to contribute in the presentation of a paper and she had the possibility to visit historical places in Paris.

Manon Bordeau Hosting & Travel Member

Manon joined the Polaris project during her 4th year at Estaca. Passionate about aerospace, she was president of ESO, Estaca's rocketry club. She worked the whole year in the Hosting & Travel team in order to organize the trip to Costa Rica for the Polaris members. Manon came to Costa Rica in the summer of 2021 to help the other Polaris technical teams in the laboratories of TEC University.

Mathilde Polan Propulsion and Hosting & Travel Member

Mathilde is a student at Estaca passionate about any space related subject. Her dream is to contribute to the democratization of access to space for all. She also loves listening to music, playing cello, going out with her friends and discovering new cultures!

Max Francis Classen General Design Chief - Propulsion Member

Max loves space and working with people different from himself. He was really interested in Project Polaris because it tied these two things together. He liked being able to research and choose the celestial body for the Star Rover.

Michelle Lacouture Solis Content Head

Michelle is an Industrial Design Engineer that started at Polaris as a member of the Social Media Group and made her way to Head of Content. She is a great team member with a fine eye for detail, making her designs unique and engaging. Aside from her passion for design, she's also a dancer that loves to read, travel, create playlists and go to concerts. So if you ever need any music recommendations, Mich is the one!

Nohelia María Arias Hidalgo Chemistry & Heat Transfer Chief - General Design Member

She started her studies at TEC, latter she studied two years in Germany and today she is a fourth-year student at The College of Idaho in the United States. Nohelia enjoys science, research and is passionate about the future of the aerospace field and she dreams with helping make it accessible for everyone. Nohelia enjoys traveling and getting to know other cultures. She is proud to be Costa Rican and she loves her family.

Victor Lance General Design Member

Victor is a French Student passionate about space and science Fiction, this passion pushed him to go and study Aerospace engineering to work in such an amazing sector that he is sure will bring many new things in the following years.

Andrea Chacón Rojas Social Media Group Chief

Andrea is an electronics´ engineering student at ITCR. She joined Project Polaris in 2020 and works as a chief for the Social Media group. Andre worked with the electronics team in Costa Rica testing components for the rover and organized activities within the Hosting & Travel team.

Aidan Hutton Connectivity Member

Aidan is an aerospace engineering student at UH. He joined Polaris in 2021 as a member of the Connectivity team, working with the technical teams to keep track of their progress and assist them with communications between each other. He mainly worked with the Power Generation, Communications and Chemical Unit subteams. In the summer of 2022 he visted Costa Rica for a month to help with the action phase and led a team of surveyors in mapping out a potential test site for the Earth Star Rover.

Ariana Sofía Argüello Cordero Chemistry & Heat Transfer Member

Ariana Sofia Arguello Cordero is a Costa Rican student in Cosmonautics and Rocket Complex Engineering at the National Aerospace Research University of Samara, Russia. She is passionate about sports, she practices boxing, swimming and long distance athletics. She is a dance and Spanish teacher. She also likes to travel, she has traveled to many countries. She is also the founder of Lunatica Podcast and creator of its content. She is a girl who one day stopped dreaming and started creating.

Aurélien Talbot- -Gléville Hosting & Travel Chief

Aurélien Talbot-Gléville is a 1st year of MEng (M1) student at ESTACA.. He joins Polaris as chief of the Host and Travel team. This year, he is also on a team in collaboration with the LATMOS (atmospheric and spatial observation laboratory) to study how their tools will react at zero gravity, tools that are supposed to research the impact of the sun on the atmosphere.

Carlos Montoya Marín Electronics Member

Carlos is a Mechatronics Engineering student from Technological Institute of Costa Rica University. He joined to the project Polaris since the beginning of the project as member of electronic team working in three of four subteams of electronic team. Carlos worked during the action stage on the power management system and the weather package of the Rover.

Christian Pieronne Admin

Christian is a space engineering student from ESTACA in France. He worked as an admin throughout the first year and will continue to do so during the next one! He was lucky to intern at the international airport of San José in Costa Rica during the summer and was able to discover much of what Costa Rica has to offer.

Fabián Garita Chacón Thruster Systems Head

Fabián is a chemical engineering student from Costa Rica University. He joined Project Polaris in 2020 and worked as one of the chiefs of the Propulsion Team. Fabián worked in the TEC labs during the Action Stage of 2021 and 2022, on a thruster prototype for the propulsion system.

Eric Fernando Vilchez Leiva Content Member

Eric is a chemical engineering student at University of Costa Rica. He joined Polaris as a member of the content team. He helped create videos and images for social media and for the IAC.

Fiorella Rodriguez Monge Finance Head

Fiorella is a student of Industrial Production Engineering at the Tecnológico de Costa Rica. She joined Polaris at the end of 2021 and worked as Head of the Budgeting Team in the Finance Area. During the process of her being a Polarian she discovered her love for knowing and learning more about space, as well as the opportunity to meet people from many parts of the world. One of her favorite parts of it was learning and of course, the trip to the Irazú volcano and the Sanatorium in Costa Rica.

Franzisco Pulfer Denoth Communications and Finance Member

Franzisco is a Electronic Engineering student from the Costa Rican Institute of Technology. He joined the Project Polaris in 2021 and worked as a member of the Electronics and Financial teams. During the action stage he worked on testing the communication system for the ESR at TEC Cartago.

Isadora Vera Calderón Mission Profile and Content

Isadora Vera is a second-year physics student at the University of Tours, and a Private Pilot. Passionate about engineering and science, she joined Polaris in 2021, where she worked on the mission profile of the Star Rover. As a Youtuber, Isadora also worked so the world could discover the project, bringing together passionate people from all over the world. She also attended the International Astronautical Congress in September 2022 where she met the rest of the team, and presented Project Polaris to the scientific community.

John Ramthun Software & Simulation Chief

John is a Computer Engineering student from Purdue University. He joined Polaris in 2020 as one of the chiefs of the Software & Simulation Team. John lead the team through its design of the project’s first Full Mission Simulation and Animation.

Johnny Chaves Alvarado Hosting & Travel Member

Julián López Marín Content

Julián is a graphic design student from the University of Costa Rica. He joined Project Polaris during 2021 and has since been part of the C3 team as a graphic content creator. He visited France during the Summer-Autumn of 2022 where he got to work at the International astronautical congress along many other polarians and also got to enjoy the culture, falling in love with the country and creating new meaningful friendships.

Kristen Emilie Sandra Maquaire Mission Profile Member

Kristen was an aerospace student at ESTACA and is now a young space engineer. She is part of the project Polaris since the beginning of the basic program (where she was a Chemistry & Heat transfer chief) and then took the position of mission profile team member. She visited Costa Rica during the first year Action Stage and keeps wonderful memories of this experience.

Lorenza Trilles Content Member

Lorenza is a ground segment space engineer working at SpaceDreamS, a French startup. She just graduated from ESTACA and her wildest dream is to become a famous singer.

Mariana Barbosa Morais Structures Chief

Mari is a mechanical engineering student from Purdue University. She joined Polaris when the project started and she worked as a chief of Structures. Mari led her team along with the other chiefs to produce two best designs for the overall rover and balloon structure.

Matteo Nathan Nicolas Duroy Software & Simulation Member

Matteo is a french engineering student studying at ESTACA with a passion for all things Aerospace. His interest for the field was sparked by videogames such as Elite Dangerous, Stellaris, and Kerbal Space Program. It was decisive in leading him to pursue his Aerospace dreams through his studies, and joining the Polaris team. As most Polaris members, he dreams of space, and one day gaining access to it.

Maxime Eliott Marie Arnaud Electronics Chief

Maxime is an aerospace student at ESTACA in France. He joined Project Polaris as an Electronics Chief in 2020 and worked on the power distribution unit for the rover. During the summer of 2021, he visited Costa Rica and interned at TEC where he discovered gallo pinto with platano maduro.

Názareth Fabiola Jiménez Chacón Admin - Electronics Member

Fabiola is almost a fifth-year electronics engineering student at Costa Rica Institute of Technology. She joined Project Polaris in 2020 as an Admin and an electronics member. As an Admin, her duties were managing technical and support teams, as well as creating partnerships. While as an electronics member, she worked on the communication side.

Ojars Gobins Thruster Systems Member

Ojars is an aerospace student at Technische Universität Berlin in Germany. He joined Project Polaris as a Propulsion Team Chief in September 2020 and worked on a cold gas propulsion system for the rover. He contributed to a wide range of tasks within the project, the most significant being the feed system design and the nozzle calculations of the engine.

Thomas Castie Financial Team Chief

Thomas is an aeronautical engineering student from ESTACA School. He joined Polaris project in 2020, and works as a Financial Director with a multi-cultural team.He has performed several internships for international leaders in the aeronautical domain, more specifically in project management field.