Kyle Richards Email & Phone Number

South San Francisco, California, Us

I decided to take a year off from engineering to travel around North America in the van I built. What a wild year it’s been. Since leaving Los Angeles I’ve climbed out of crevasses on Alaskan glaciers, worked with a wooden boat building YouTube group in New England, rode my bike around the island of Taiwan, traversed highlines between mesas far above the Utah desert floor, created lasting friendships below the granite walls of Squamish, and so much more.This winter I’m interested in starting to work in engineering again, if the right opportunity arises. Don’t worry though; there will be more adventures ahead.

Hawthorne, California, Us

• Led a multidisciplinary team to design and build the bipropellant reaction control system for Starship. We installed our flight system on Booster 3 less than 6 months after test firing our first chamber/injector• Dramatically simplified the in-space gas generation architecture for the Starship HLS lunar landing vehicle. My pressure fed combustor and heat exchanger design eliminated the need for turbomachinery, and was successfully tested in Texas to win a large NASA milestone payment • Owned design, manufacturing and operations of the nitrogen spin start system on Booster 7. This booster was used for the first orbital flight test• Developed the timing sequence to ignite 33 engines on Booster 7 within acceptable bounds for spin gas pressure, igniter gas pressure, feedline drawdown, primary structure margins, and exhaust recirculation• Owned stage propulsion operations for Starship SN8. I developed the automation to transition between flight states based on propellant remaining in each tank, managed the propulsion hardware through static fire testing, and operated the propulsion systems on console• Developed the cold gas thruster reaction control system used on Starship. I owned the systems engineering and all hardware from the first test vehicles through the successful 10km flight campaign

Hawthorne, California, Us

• Responsible engineer for both hydraulic systems on Starhopper (thrust vectoring and engine throttle)• Designed, built and activated SpaceX's structural test stand currently used for production of Merlin engine thrust chambers. I owned all hardware (mechanical, electrical and hydraulic), and managed the project from start to finish• Led manufacturing of the first Raptor engine fuel-rich preburner combustion device

Hawthorne, California, Us

• Developed processes to refurbish engines off landed boosters for flight. These engines went on to fly on the first reused Falcon 9• Designed proof test stand to test thrust chambers for structural integrity

Evanston, Illinois, Us

• Led the team to its first ever endurance race finish at Formula SAE Michigan in 2016• Designed and manufactured the team’s first aerodynamics package for the 2016 FSAE car • Designed, analyzed and manufactured the 2015 car’s space-frame chassis• Built a team that the designed and manufactured of the frame, brakes, aero package, drivetrain, pedal box and suspension arms for two consecutive years as chassis team lead• Recruited and trained new members to triple the size of our chassis team over two years

Hawthorne, California, Us

• Analyzed Falcon thrust structure components using ANSYS, and ran development tests to ground analysis• Designed and built tooling for manufacturing, assembly and inspection of thrust structure flight parts• Designed and ran development tests on thrust structure fastener strength, installation and corrosion resistance

Oakland, Ca, Us

• Taught two sections of physics for students entering ninth grade• Developed and modified curriculum for the broader physics department• Developed curriculum and taught debate for entering eighth graders

Bachelor Of Science (Bs), Mechanical Engineering

Education record