Aerospace Portfolio – Ongoing and Previous Projects
The following are some of my past and present projects. I have also contributed research and published articles. For further information, please contact me.
Space System and Mission Design
I regularly assist spacecraft engineering companies and teams with designing the details of their space missions. This includes:
- Spacecraft design
- System / subsystem sizing
- Component trade studies, including sourcing
- Orbit design and analysis
For additional details on solving space mission design challenges, please contact me.
Aerospace System Design
I coordinate with aerospace companies regarding the design of aerospace systems, including CAD/FEA/CFD modeling for:
- Aircraft
- Unmanned aerial vehicles
StellarXplorers
I worked with the Air and Space Force Association on their StellarXplorers STEM competition, developing challenges for high school students to help them understand the fundamentals of space mission design. Student teams compete to design missions in STK, choose system hardware, and choose launch platforms.
StellarXplorers is a great program getting students involved with STEM.
Satellite Cloud Cover Model
I created an AI model of Earth’s cloud cover by averaging 10 years of historical data. This model allowed for analysis of potential cloud cover over areas of the Earth throughout the year in order to provide insight into whether a satellite would have visual access to a particular area.
Missile Defense
I performed Modeling and Simulation of Missile Defense Systems, as well as Systems Engineering related to testing hardware / software integration requirements verification. One highlight of this work was a task to develop a software program that would convert a set of trajectories from multiple formats to one specific format to enable flight test mission planning.
Space Shuttle Program
I worked on the Safety and Mission Assurance (S&MA) contract, performing Systems Engineering and Integration as well as Flight Operations on the Space Shuttle Program, including Mission Control Center operations. A key project was evaluating burn-out time discrepancies between the two Solid Rocket Boosters that were causing torques on the Stack over several missions. I evaluated the data, and worked with other members of the Guidance, Navigation, and Control Working Group to ensure root-cause was determined, and the resulting fix met requirements for continued Program S&MA.
Lunar Communications Network (LunaComm)
In 2005 I proposed the idea of a lunar communications network to provide point-to-point communication across the surface of the Moon and to Earth. The concept was developed in an academic study using smallsats (200 kg). 100% coverage of the lunar surface with a link back to Earth was made possible using six satellites in two offset polar orbits. That same concept is currently being developed as Parsec by Crescent Space, a Lockheed Martin spinoff.
Magnetic-Field Investigation of Mars by Interacting Consortia (MIMIC)
This was NASA-sponsored work involving developing the mission operations for a small-sat going to Mars, including orbital maneuvers and design of an operational orbit to optimize the science. I built a Martian High Precision Orbital Propagator in STK in order to calculate the necessary micro-pulse-plasma-thruster maneuver times. I also worked to train others on the use of STK so that they were able to perform analysis, which I evaluated prior to reporting to the rest of the engineering teams.