Unconventional Students at Rice 2021: Ryan Udell blasts off

It is no surprise that Ryan Udell ’21 is one of the most-involved space students at Rice University.  

“When I was 10 years old, I slept under the Saturn V rocket on an overnight Boy Scout trip,” he said. 

The mechanical engineering major from Jacksonville, Florida, started his space journey at Rice by working with Eclipse, the student rocketry club, his freshman year.

“Through becoming an officer eventually in Eclipse and helping to lead some of those missions, I realized there’s not a lot of aerospace companies and engagement outside of the rocketry club,” he said. “So I happened to become the president of the Students for the Exploration and Development of Space within the Rice Space Institute.”

Udell has played a part in bringing well-known space personalities like former NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine and astronaut Peggy Whitson to campus for events.  

“I could not have done everything I’ve done without the unanimous and ubiquitous support of the entire Rice community, especially the Rice Space Institute and its director, Dr. (David) Alexander,” he said. 

His last Rice space project, the OwlSat, may be his most ambitious yet.

“A CubeSat is a small, 10-centimeter-by-10-centimeter-by-10-centimeter satellite,” he said. “And we were accepted into the NASA CubeSat launch initiative, and we’ll be launching to space in about a year.” 

Even though Udell hasn’t left Earth’s atmosphere, he feels like he has already accomplished more than he could have imagined in the space industry.  

“I had no idea that I would be building a satellite,” he said. “I had no idea I would have built rockets at Rice, I had no idea I would be inviting the NASA administrator and astronauts and some of the coolest people and companies around the world to come to Rice and meet students. And it’s just been an absolutely incredible experience.”