Derek Paxson Email & Phone Number

Greater Boston

Mechanical design, analysis, and DFM for the full scale Form iron-air battery cells

San Francisco Bay Area

• Lead a team of mechanical, manufacturing, and systems engineers responsible for designing, prototyping, and testing, the upper stage for Astra's Rocket 4
• Performed system level trades to balance cost, reliability, and performance of the overall vehicle.

• Mechanical, structural, thermal and fluid design of the upper stage for Astra rocket 3 and rocket 4 as well as manufacturing, production and launch support.
• Experience designing a wide range of components including propellant tanks, payload structures, valves, regulators, and propellant feed systems.
• Created parametric mass and performance models to support system architecture design and optimization for future vehicles.

• Multidisciplinary design of the electric propellant pumps for Astra rocket 3.0
• Development testing of propellant pumps on isolated test stands and engine hot fires
• Mechanical design of a unique ground based, resettable engine igniter system

Leading trade study effort to choose thermal management architecture for the production hyperloop pod

Researched and performed sizing and feasibility calculations for low pressure heat rejection devices, both existing (sublimator, membrane evaporator, impingement boiler, radiator, etc.) and proprietary designs. To better suit the design constraints, I developed a novel low pressure heat rejection device and designed a sub-scale test rig to determine.

Greater Los Angeles Area

Performed mechanical and thermal design for various electromagnetic aspects of the full scale prototype pod, XP-1. Specific projects included Mechanical and thermal design of the 3.3G eddy current brake for the tube/track, mechanical design and assembly tooling design for the mover portion of a ~1MW linear motor, and mass production of injection-molded.

Cambridge, MA

Worked on team of approximately 20 graduate students to design a pod for the 2016 SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition.

Cambridge, MA

Designed and operated a supercritical CO2 blowdown rig to evaluate the onset of condensation in multiphase flow. The central element of the test rig was a 150 bar nozzle test-section with optical access for interferometric density measurement. I utilized these results to improve compressors for carbon capture and sequestration at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries

Ithaca, New York Area

Coordinated and managed a 25 person team in designing and testing a custom turbocharged CBR600rr engine package for the 2014 Cornell FSAE car: a prototype open-wheel formula race car. Utilized engine modelling in Ricardo WAVE to determine system-level engine parameters and architecture.

Ithaca, New York Area

Managed and worked alongside a team of approximately 5 undergraduate students on the design of the exhaust and induction components for the 2013 Cornell FSAE car. Personally designed the intake manifold, throttle body, and custom DMLS stainless steel turbine housing.

Greater Pittsburgh Area

Worked on the Carnegie Mellon CHIMP Robot for the DARPA Robotics Challenge. Designed and tested a compact cooling unit for CPU’s operating in high stress thermal environments. Utilized analytical as well as numerical simulation to determine optimal heat sink configuration

Asheville, North Carolina Area

Worked in the aftermarket division of BorgWarner Turbo Systems. Designed prototype axial turbine wheel cast from Titanium-Aluminide,and also worked on updated internals for the R2S two stage turbocharger system.

Master’S Degree, Aerospace, Aeronautical And Astronautical Engineering

Activities and Societies: MIT Hyperloop Team

Bachelor’S Degree, Mechanical Engineering

Activities and Societies: Formula SAE, Tau Beta Pi

High School