Tartarus
Tartarus
Redesigned rocket injector for 3D-printed production, cutting material cost per unit by ~90% and reducing cold-flow test lead time from over a year to ~2 weeks.
Validated torch ignitor design through thermal FEA, confirming survivability through the full 5-second engine burn duration under combustion heating loads.
Work contributed to an AIAA 2024 publication on ignitor development.
Tartarus is a student-developed bipropellant liquid rocket engine (liquid oxygen/ethanol) built by UAH's Space Hardware Club to gain hands-on experience in propulsion design, analysis, and hot-fire testing.
I served as a Propulsion Engineering team member, focusing on thermal analysis of the torch ignitor and researching the feasibility of 3D-printed injector manufacturing to address a major production bottleneck.
Thermal Analysis: Conducted thermal FEA of ignitor components, first in MSC Patran, later verified in ANSYS, to validate material limits under combustion heating loads.
Injector Feasibility Research: Led a small team researching FDM 3D-printing as an alternative to machining for injector production, evaluating filament materials and estimating cost/time savings to address a ~1-year machining bottleneck.
Factor of Safety Analysis: Performed basic factor-of-safety calculations to assess whether 3D-printed injector components could withstand expected operating loads.
Documentation: Created machinist drawings to support fabrication of engine components.
Testing: Supported hot-fire testing and collaborated with the team on component testing, integration, and redesign.