Australia's first student-designed hybrid rocket. Nitrous-paraffin M-class motor, ~4.5 kN thrust, targeting 10,000 ft. I lead the 115-member team and personally built the core structural assemblies.
Before becoming Team Lead I spent two years as Structures Lead, personally designing and manufacturing the fin can, avionics bay, and primary structural assemblies. I produced full flight vehicle CAD in Onshape integrating hundreds of components across all subsystems.
[ Describe the most interesting structural design decisions — what made the fin can geometry challenging, what the avionics bay interface required, any manufacturing constraints you designed around. ]
Full flight vehicle CAD — [ describe view ]
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The recovery system for the hybrid rocket uses a side-hatch deployment architecture — the first of its kind in Australia. I am responsible for the full system: design rationale, system architecture, metallic component fabrication, and vehicle integration interfaces.
[ This is your most novel technical contribution on this project — describe it in detail. What is a side-hatch mechanism and why is it used here? What problem does it solve compared to conventional nosecone ejection? What were the key design challenges — sealing, deployment reliability, structural interface? How did you validate it? ]
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[ Describe the composite work on ARES — the nosecone manufacturing process you redesigned, any fin can layup work, tooling developed. Reference your wet layup / vacuum bagging / resin infusion experience as appropriate. What was the specific improvement in the nosecone process? ]
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Taking on the Team Lead role mid-program meant inheriting ongoing work across six technically independent subteams while simultaneously making the structural transition from hands-on builder to program director.
[ Describe what leading 115 people actually involves day-to-day — running design reviews, managing the interface between subteams, making final technical calls, dealing with supplier relationships and faculty stakeholders. What's the hardest part of the job? What have you learned? ]