Logan Hanssler
Logan Hanssler
Logan Hanssler of Buffalo Grove, Illinois, is a fourth-year undergraduate student studying Molecular Engineering and Astrophysics at the University of Chicago. Logan co-founded the PULSE-A mission, the first demonstration of space-to-ground laser communication using circular polarization modulation and the University of Chicago’s first undergraduate-led initiative to develop a satellite. He secured NASA’s endorsement of PULSE-A’s merit and feasibility, and he led the mission’s growth to becoming the largest undergraduate research effort at the University. While preparing a bachelor’s thesis on PULSE-A’s orbital analysis, Logan is now training a new student team to develop the follow-up PULSE-Q mission in quantum communications. He has also conducted research in the University of Chicago’s South Pole Telescope and Meyer Groups, and he has interned at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory. Logan has been awarded the Astronaut Scholarship, QuestBridge Match Scholarship, the University of Chicago’s Enrico Fermi Scholar Divisional Honors, and SEDS-USA’s Jeff Bezos Award. Logan is passionate about inspiring future generations of students to pursue careers in space science and engineering as well. A former participant in the Space Settlement Design Competitions, he now volunteers internationally to mentor teams of high school students designing cities in space.
As a Marshall Scholar, Logan plans to pursue Imperial College London’s Optics and Photonics MSc followed by Durham University’s Physics MSc by Research with the Free-Space Optics Group. Over the course of his career, Logan aims to continue researching laser communication and developing the technology to become the standard for information transfer in space.