And for good reason: his essay about Saturn’s moons—Tethys, Enceladus, and Mimas—earned top honors in NASA’s 2015-16 Cassini Scientist for a Day essay contest.
Jacob said he was on his way back from Dayton, Ohio—where he competed in the Drumline World Championships with the SMHS Drumline team—when he heard the good news. “I definitely wasn’t expecting it,” added the SMHS freshman.
The nationwide contest saw over 1,150 essays submitted by students from across the country. Jacob’s essay about the rings and moons of Saturn was selected after review by a team of scientists, engineers and educators.
Jacob had been following the Cassini Mission for a while before he found out about the essay contest. “When I found out about the essay contest on the NASA website, I just decided to take the opportunity to enter the contest,” he said.
The Cassini Mission, Jacob explained, sent a spacecraft to observe Saturn’s rings and moons.
“[Scientists] believe that there is water under the surface of Enceladus,” he said. In a recent flyby, he added, the Cassini space probe found water vapor in the gas released from the moon’s geysers, which suggests that there could be life.
When asked if he would want to be part of the NASA team exploring the possibility of life on Saturn’s moon, he humbly replied, “I would be honored to if I could.”
“I’ve always been interested in space exploration and NASA,” Jacob said. An interest and curiosity that his essay fully captured. Reading his essay may even reproduce the excitement felt by a Star Wars fan—which Jacob is—watching the latest Star Wars movie for the first time.
He was even able to include a reference to Star Wars in his essay, noting the “strikingly similar” appearance between one of Saturn’s moons and the Death Star.
Looking to the future, Jacob plans to continue to follow NASA, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Cassini Mission.
The Cassini probe was sent into orbit in 2004. It is currently on its third mission, which will end in September 2017.
“I’m so proud of him,” said Jacob’s dad John Yim. “I’ll be totally honest, I didn’t read his essay until after,” he added.
The Cassini Outreach Team at JPL shared Jacob’s accomplishment with The Tribune.
His essay can be found at www.saturn-archive.jpl.nasa.gov/education/scientistforaday2015/winners201516/essayC1.
