Art of Science: Ingenious Engineering at the Edge of Space

Sky Rueff, an undergraduate studying mechanical engineering in FAU’s College of Engineering and Computer Science, recently earned third place in this year’s Art of Science photography contest for an image titled Journey to Space.

The image shows a rare view of a balloon bursting in the stratosphere (near space).

The balloon mission was organized by FAU’s Aerospace Experimental Association (AXA), a group of future engineers who share a vision of exploring space and advancing space technologies, according to Rueff, who is president of the group.

“Those frames we captured changed everything,” Rueff said. “We had launched balloons before, but we’d never actually saw the moment of the burst.”

The cameras used were mounted to analyze the balloon’s behavior and how it interacts with high altitudes, but Rueff said he was surprised that they also revealed the aesthetic power of engineering.

“Good engineering is an art,” Rueff said. “There’s creativity in solving problems and beauty in seeing how a system behaves at the edge of what’s possible.”

Rueff’s research is grounded in real mission experience, adding that he has helped lead multiple near-space launches and spent a summer in NASA’s University Nanosatellite Program learning systems engineering alongside Air Force and aerospace professionals. Now he’s helping train peers to design FAU’s next generation of satellite-ready hardware.

To Rueff, the images matter just as much as the data, he said.

“Photography lets people feel the science,” Rueff said. “When you show the world from 100,000 feet – no borders, just Earth – it inspires curiosity. That’s what research and art have in common. They make people stop, look and wonder.”