Biography
I'm a mechanical engineer and I work with a team of talented engineers at NASA's largest rocket testing facility, the John C. Stennis Space Center. Right now, we are testing the rocket engines that will power NASA's next heavy-lift launch vehicle, called the "Space Launch System," or "SLS." These engines are the "RS-25" and the "J-2X," which will power the SLS' first stage and second stage, respectively. The SLS will be the largest launch vehicle EVER built and will be more powerful than the Saturn V rocket that carried Apollo astronauts to the moon! Countless hours have been poured in to the design of a rocket engine, as one can imagine, but NASA engineers need to know every strength, weakness, limitation...basically, an all-around performance of their rocket engines is what they're looking for. Engines are put to the test by firing them at many conditions that they may face, both realistic and extreme, so the engine performance is "mapped." The testing process is critical and that's precisely what we do at Stennis! Now, the coolest part about this job? The test day, hands down! When it's test time, eager engineers wait outside from a safe distance and then...a 60-second siren goes off and the test conductor counts down the final seconds, the engine ignites and then an explosive sound fills the air that is so loud, it almost knocks you back! The ground begins to rumble, a small heat wave warms your hands on a cold Mississippi day, and a giant steam plume billows out! What's really cool is when it’s a lengthier test, a small cloud is actually produced from the amount of steam created in the testing process...and then...it actually rains on us! Don't worry, being made of LH/LOX, it's actually the cleanest cloud in the sky :) [Image credit: NASA/SSC]