USU is building a satellite incorporating the technology Jensen developed. If USU wins the University Nanosat Competition, Jensen's magnetic control system could be launched into space on an Air Force rocket in two years.

His system uses magnets in conjunction with cameras and computers to determine a satellite's orientation. It then interacts with the Earth's magnetic field to push or pull the satellite into its proper orientation, in much the same way two magnets on a table repel or attract each other.

"The Earth is acting as one magnet, and we're controlling the other," Jensen said.

Traditionally, satellites have employed rocket thrusters or momentum-exchange systems to change their orientation. Both systems work on the principle that every action has an opposite, but equal, reaction.

Thrusters push a satellite in the opposite direction of the thrust, and momentum-exchange systems use wheels and cogs to create actions and reactions that reorient a satellite. But thrusters require large amounts of fuel and storage tanks, while momentum-exchange systems are bulky and tend to fail because lubricants don't work well in space.

Jensen's magnetic system, however, is small, uses little fuel and can be built for less than $100. While many thruster and momentum exchange systems are designed for specific satellites in specific orbits, Jensen's system will work on just about any satellite in any orbit.

The system could also be installed in more than one satellite to establish a monitoring network. For example, global-imaging satellites could look at the same area from different angles.

"It was designed so you could put 20 satellites up," Jensen said. "One satellite can't tell as much as several satellites, and this would work for several satellites."

Like Jolley's spacecraft, Jensen's system could be used for civilian and military satellites.

Jensen's two biggest challenges were creating a computer program to simulate the conditions his system would have to operate in and then testing the system with the program.

"You not only have to know how to control the satellite, you have to know the physics of everything around it," he said.

Jensen said he wrote about 8,000 lines of computer code and had to employ "some intense mathematics" just for the magnetic control system. The simulation's computer required an equal effort, he said.

Although Jolley and Jensen have completed the requirements for their master's degrees in mechanical and aerospace engineering, they submitted papers on their projects while they were students. Then they had to make presentations and answer questions from a panel of experts at last week's Small Satellite Conference at USU.

It's unusual to have two students from the same university win scholarships in the prestigious competition, said Jaimie Kandler, the conference's administrator. The contest was created in 2003 and named after USU professor Frank J. Redd, who died in 2003 after helping build USU's aerospace program.

Jolley, 26, is from Rupert, Idaho. He is working on launch vehicles for ATK Launch Systems in Magna.

Jensen, 28, is from Payson. He landed a job at Bechtel Bettis Inc.'s nuclear waste facility near Idaho Falls, Idaho.

Both plan to do the same thing with their scholarship money: pay down student loans.

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E-mail: mikewennergren@yahoo.com