A team of students from the University of Georgia College of Engineering took home a top award from NASA’s 2026 Gateways to Blue Skies Forum, a student competition related to aircraft maintenance.
The team was honored with the “Future Game-Changer” recognition, one of four total awards presented.
NASA’s Gateways to Blue Skies competition invites collegiate teams to conceptualize innovative systems and practices that would advance commercial aircraft maintenance, repair and operations. This year’s theme, RepAir: Advancing Aircraft Maintenance, challenged teams to develop novel solutions for improved safety, efficiency and resilience in aviation maintenance by 2035.
The UGA team – mechanical engineering students Jerry Gonzalez, Owen Nesbit, Ishaan Patel and Quinn Rodier – presented QuaSAR: Quantum Sensing Aerial Reporting, a drone-based quantum inspection system for commercial aircraft. Advised by College of Engineering faculty members Kevin Wu and Ramana Pidaparti, the team was one of only eight finalists selected from across the country. They earned a $9,000 prize after presenting before a panel of NASA and industry judges at the 2026 Gateways to Blue Skies Forum, held on May 18 and 19 at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.
“The team delivered an outstanding presentation of their disruptive concept, standing completely apart from the competition,” said Pidaparti. “I am incredibly proud of their dedication and this remarkable achievement in winning the Future Game-Changer award at the NASA Blue Skies Competition.”
QuaSAR proposes a more proactive approach to identifying early warning signs of aircraft defects using quantum sensors. Currently, maintenance methods rely on labor-intensive, reactive inspections, a process further strained by an expanding global fleet and a shortage of certified maintenance technicians. QuaSAR would generate real-time magnetic field maps to reveal material stress before visible damage appears, facilitating a more responsive, dynamic maintenance strategy.
