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Alumni Spotlight - Elijah Clouatre ('18)

Elijah Clouatre (’18) has spent his life trying to understand how the universe works. “The technology that it requires to study space – to get to space causes us to ask good questions, and then we find answers.” 

“I was always the kid checking out the space books from the school library – “101 Facts About Space” – I never put it down,” he said. “It was always super fascinating to me.” After graduating from TFS in 2018, Clouatre took his curiosity and questions to the Georgia Technological Institute in Atlanta, Georgia. 

At Georgia Tech, Clouatre has been involved in research projects in several labs. “Currently, we are trying to figure out what mixtures of gases we can use to make it different from some of the expensive gases,” said Clouatre. “We are trying to use atmospheric air.” 

He also spent a year in a lab building and testing CubeSats. “It’s a satellite the size of the old DVD player,” he said. “This is a calibration mission to prove a concept that a college team an build and create a satellite.” They have to build it to survive all the vibrations and temperature changes.

For Clouatre, the opportunities he has had through internships have boosted his experience, knowledge, and, of course, his resume. He currently works with the Georgia Tech Research Institute Advanced Warfighting Technologies division.

Over the summer, Clouatre’s childhood dream came true. He worked with the Space Force as a mission assurance intern. “I got to go down to Cape Canaveral, where I was up close and personal watching the Bowing Starliner launch,” he said. “When the Artemis II booster section came in, I watched it get wheeled in. That is the rocket that is going to take us back to the moon.” It was a surreal experience for Clouatre to walk under the launch vehicles, interact with the hardware, and watch them assemble rockets.

He worked with the Fifth Space Launch Squadron doing mission assurance. Whenever the government buys a space vehicle, they have to go in and watch the assembly process. “They have to account for all the procedures. The engineers and military members are responsible for the process, and we assure the standard to make sure the mission will be successful.” 

In December, he will graduate with a B.A. in physics and aerospace engineering. He also has an associate’s degree in mathematics from the University of North Georgia. He plans to pursue a master's degree from Tech. “I have to pinch myself every now and then and remind myself not to miss the forest for the trees. It is wild to be alive.”