Test Engineer at AST SpaceMobile
Starting in 2025, I'm happy to accept my role as associate test engineer for AST SpaceMobile. My role continues to be ingrained in the AIT of the world's largest satellites.
Quality Engineer at AST SpaceMobile
Since 2024, I've worked at AST SpaceMobile, which is a satellite engineering company that has the goal of bringing the first space-based cellular broadband network to regular smartphones. As a quality engineer, my primary responsibility is to assist with the assembling, integration, and testing of the satellites. This includes managing inspection checklists to ensure quality involvement during all phases of manufacturing.
Senior Design Capstone
My team designed a satellite to carry a payload that tracks aerosol plumes using near-infrared (NIR) and shortwave infrared (SWIR) cameras. We first completed design work for a satellite constellation utilizing a neural network to autonomously detect plumes. I worked on the communications for the satellites, creating the link budgets and conducting trade studies for the antennas and transmitters. To complete our project, we built a demonstration payload that was flown on a weather balloon in June 2023. My contribution to the project was programming the on-board camera to detect and fix aperture/exposure when the images produced are too bright or dark. Our payload was successful during the balloon flight, although the SWIR camera was unfocused, possibly due to damage during the launch.
CanSat 2023
CanSat is an international competition for college teams to design, build, and fly their own payload on a high-powered amateur rocket. The basic mission requirements are to build a payload consisting of a camera, pressure/temperature sensor, and an aerobraking mechanism to mimic a planetary probe. I organized my team into 3 subteams: electrical/RF, structures, and software. My main responsibilities were oversight and understanding of the entire system. I worked with each subsystem every week depending on their needs. I wrote system-level tests, a mission operations manual, and raised and managed our $1000 budget. My team passed every review and was invited to attend the competition at Virginia Tech. While our CanSat flew, it unfortunately experienced software malfunctions that prevented overall mission success. Please read more about this in the PAR linked below.
NASA L'Space Academy 2021
In 2021 I participated in the NASA L'Space Mission Concept Academy. The 12-week program allows undergraduate students to learn NASA mission procedures and protocols from industry professionals. My team wrote a mission proposal for a CubeSat that acquires data about the presence of water on the Moon.