Aaron Maloney. Image: Nathan Cafolla
IRC award winner Aaron Maloney was singled out for his work investigating sustainable and durable materials for the space industry.
The Irish Research Council (IRC) has named Aaron Maloney as this year’s winner of the Jane Grimson Medal of Excellence – an annual award that is given to the top-ranking postgraduate STEM scholar in Ireland.
Maloney is the seventh winner of the award and the first winner to be based at a technological university. He is a PhD student at the Technological University of the Shannon (TUS).
He received the award for his research on materials used in space exploration. His focus is mainly on the UV stabilisation and recyclability of high-performance polymers used in additive manufacturing for the space tech industry.
Before he began his current research, Maloney did an undergraduate degree at TUS that focused on polymer and mechanical engineering. He completed two summer internships in the TUS-run Applied Polymer Technology (APT) lab in Athlone. Here, he began his research into sustainable materials for the space industry under a joint TUS and APT PhD scholarship that is awarded to top-performing students in Maloney’s undergraduate degree programme.
Earlier this year, Maloney was awarded funding by the IRC through the Government of Ireland Postgraduate programme to complete his studies.
“I’m driven by the opportunity to innovate in advanced industries and make a real-world impact,” Maloney said of his work. “The interdisciplinary nature of this work and its potential to shape the future of aerospace continually inspire my research efforts. It will reduce the need for costly resupply missions, enabling on-demand manufacturing of spare parts for maintenance in case of emergency and as required.”
Dr Declan Devine, who is one of Maloney’s research supervisors, praised the student for his achievements. “The acknowledgement from the prestigious IRC postgraduate award is a great accomplishment for any researcher but to also be awarded the Jane Grimson Medal of Excellence Award is a true reflection of the excellent research and outputs that Aaron has made since he began his PhD journey.”
He also explained that Maloney’s research is closely linked to the European Space Agency (ESA). “The topic of the project is related to a number of projects we have run in collaboration with ESA and partners around the development of 3D printing for in space applications. Aaron has supported this research since he started with us.”
According to advanced manufacturing engineer with the ESA, Dr Advenit Makaya, Maloney’s topic of in-space manufacturing and recycling is considered “of high importance to open new capabilities and to ensure the sustainability of future space activities”.
“On-orbit manufacturing and recycling with polymers is a promising field, which we are investigating in a number of technologies, including activities with TUS. Further developments in that area will only bring us closer to the perspective of implementation in space missions.”
It is an exciting time to be involved in space-related research in Ireland, given that the country recently celebrated the successful launch of its first satellite, Eirsat-1.
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