Alec Auster Email & Phone Number

Lexington, Ky, Us

Lexington, Kentucky, United States

Houston, Texas, United States

Urbana, Illinois, United States

Urbana, Illinois, United States

Led the Illinois Space Society’s 20+ member team in the development of the Mars Ice Thermal Harvesting Rig and ISRULaboratory (MITHRIL), a Water-based ISRU Architecture that produces propellant to support future Mars missions. Led the team to a second place finish, and our paper will be published by AIAA for the 2022 ASCEND Conference in October.◦ Coordinated and secured an official industry partnership with Honeybee Robotics to bolster the MITHRIL architecture.◦ Organized and led SRR, PDR, and CDR presentations to faculty, NASA, and Honeybee advisors.◦ Co-authored 3 reports: Design Cycle 1, the MITHRIL proposal, and the MITHRIL technical paper.◦ Documented all facets of the project, from inception to submission, on the Illinois Space Society Confluence (Wiki) pageCo-led the design of the STING Rodwell system, a pneumatic drilling rig derived from Honeybee Robotics' Redwater system that creates a water well within Martian glaciers via waste heat drawn from a surface fission reactorCo-led a calorimetry experiment to determine the specific and latent heats of water mixtures containing Mars regolith and salt to fill gaps within the literature regarding its effects on the heat required to melt ice on Mars.}Developed an Excel-based tool to automate the generation of propellant feedstock requirements, as well as a Python-based tool to model the power required to pump water through the STING-fission system thermal loop

Urbana, Illinois, United States

Lead the Illinois Space Day corporate, school, and parent outreach program to register K-8 students, acquire sponsorships, plan catering, and more. 200+ students are expected to attend.

East Hartford, Connecticut, United States

Assisted in the redesign of the diverging flap of the F135 nozzle to improve separability and repairability, whilemaintaining or improving performance and preserving interchangeability with the current bill of materials.◦ Created an Excel-based tool to interface with outputs from the F135 Loads Deck to automate the generation of free bodydiagrams of loading and reactions on the diverging flap of the nozzle at limiting flight points.◦ Developed bolt stack tool in Python to automate and modernize engineering standard workprocesses. Implemented tool to down-select and identify proper fasteners for the redesign of the diverging flap.◦ Performed analytical condition inspection to identify wear and coating loss on the diverging flaps of an F135 test engine.◦ Leveraged the above analyses to aid in the creation of multiple redesign iterations of the diverging flap in NX CAD

Urbana, Illinois, United States

Co-led RASC-AL exhibit presentation to 200+ attendeesExhibit consisted of an end-to-end demonstration of the "Rodwell" drilling and water extraction technique. All processes including drilling through dirt (Martian Regolith) with a 4 foot auger (Martian drill), melting ice in the hole and pumping out water (the Rodwell), and powering an Electrolysis Fuel Car with the water (the future Mars system using propellant), were demonstrated.

Urbana, Illinois, United States

• Design and manufacture solid engine rocket to launch to Karman line by 2024.• Created our first test propellant formulation, which consists of AP, Al Powder, HTPB binder, and other additives at custom ratios.• Drafted an 11-page safety document with a team of four that covers all facets of solid propellant manufacturing and testing.

Urbana, Illinois, United States

- Conducted trade studies to choose technology for Environmental Control and Life Support Systems (ECLSS), including atmosphere revitalization, temperature and humidity control, and fluid control systems based on TRL, mass, volume, and power consumption for a hypothetical mission of LILAC, a 30-day crewed durable low-mass lunar habitat.- Conducted trade studies on fuel cell technology, specifically the advantages and disadvantages of PEM fuel cells over more well-established alkaline fuel cells.- Collaborated with a team of 8 to research, determine, and model the optimal layout of the habitat for maximum storage efficiency, psychological health of the crew, and sustainability.- Co-authored and submitted 15-page technical report detailing the design and analysis of LILAC

United States

- Led three projects supporting the program office to update fleet reliability metrics, conduct market research, and modernize data collection for the V2500 fleet, which has more than 3000 aircraft in service:1) Updated the Spare Engine Health Tool, an in-house Excel based report that calculates the spare engine requirements for operators across the globe. This enables the program office to determine which operators are significantly over or under spared, and ensure enough spare engines are available to initiate shop visits and maintain profitability.2) Conducted market research to support the V2500-E5, which powers the Embraer C-390. This includes, but is not limited to, acquisition and sustainment costs, an order book, and performance comparison between the C-390 and comparable aircraft.3) Initiated the transfer of data from ad hoc spreadsheets to Athena Fleet Management, a modern database soon to be imported into Microsoft Dynamics. Created and implemented sustainment strategy to support and staff Athena in the future by creating a cross-functional group between Engineering, Customer Technical Support, Program Management, and Digital Technology.

- Utilized Python to create a paper trading stock market simulator with a team of fourteen members- Led a subcommittee on the implementation of graphical functions and receipts for the portfolio in the simulation

Lake Zurich, Illinois, United States

Deer Park, Illinois, United States