An uplifting talk by a young engineer about the promise of space and humanity’s place in it:  Mars and the Euphoria of Human Exploration: Tim Ellis at TEDxTrousdale (via Spaceports blog):

From the caption:

Tim Ellis is a current graduate student and undergraduate alumni of the University of Southern California’s Viterbi Engineering School with both degrees in Aerospace Engineering. His primary involvement on campus is centered around the Rocket Propulsion Lab, a purely student-run group dedicated to designing, building, and flying research-scale rocket vehicles and engines.

He was the conceptual design and dynamics team leader in the planning and development of USCRPL’s “Traveler” rocket, slated to be the first ever launched by a university to international space at over 400,000 ft altitude. Beyond “Traveler”, Tim was also a lead designer of the Silver Spur 3 project, which successfully flew to 60,000 ft and over 3,000 mph.

Currently, he is working on developing USC’s first bipropellant rocket engine, aimed to discover ways to drastically lower the cost and difficulty of access to space without sacrificing performance. Additionally, as an undergraduate, Tim was an active member in the professional leadership fraternity Delta Omicron Zeta.

Outside of school, Tim will be returning for a third consecutive internship with the private space group Blue Origin, LLC, a startup founded by Amazon.com owner Jeff Bezos, to advance the presence of humans in space.