Guidance, Navigation, and Control at the Texas Rocket Engineering Lab.
Year
2021-2023
Working with sponsors Blue Origin and SpaceX, I was mentored into guidance, navigation, and control (GNC), specifically, high-fidelity simulation and flight software validation.
Initially, I supported Fluids mechanical design where I remodeled a fault-tolerant quick-disconnect umbilical release mechanism for LOX/RP-1 during takeoff. After developing some industry awareness, I soon joined the GNC effort to focus on physics-based modeling and software-in-the-loop (SITL) testing of the rocket flight controller. I worked directly on a 6-DOF Simulink model used to validate guidance and control logic, where I pinpointed large center-of-mass estimation errors during simulated flight.
I traced a primary source to missing propellant ejection effects and implemented a mass-flow model that accounted for fuel and oxidizer burn over the full flight profile.
This correction involved integrating nonlinear rigid-body dynamics with time-varying mass properties and sensor fusion, amounting to a significantly improved center-of-mass estimation and downstream trajectory fidelity.
My work at the Texas Rocket Engineering Lab not only provided insight into an Aerospace industry-grade setting, it steered me in the direction I am still passionately running toward.
Disciplines
Control Theory
Simulation
Aerodynamics
Mechanical Design
Mathematical Modeling
CAD
Hardware In The Loop
