Vlad Podolsky Email & Phone Number

Seattle, Wa, Us

Seattle, Washington, Us

One of the two leads responsible for coordinating and prioritizing science planning and execution of R&D work on the Orbitron fusion reactor

Seattle, Washington, Us

Led team of 4 in development and testing of a high intensity 10 keV, 1 mA D2 ion source.

San Jose, California, Us

San Jose, California, Us

R&D Project Manager:March 2021-Present: Ardoride Propulsion System•Leading an interdisciplinary group of 10-20 engineers to create a next generation microwave electrothermal thruster and RF source to propel Ardoride February 2021-Present: Future RF source for Vigoride's thrusters•Leading a team of subcontractors to develop an RF source with similar performance and efficiencies of a magnetron but much longer lifetimesProject Manager:March 2020 - January 2021: RF source for Vigoride's thrusters•Led an interdisciplinary team of 5-10 engineers to convert a commercially available magnetron into a space-qualified RF source. The team was responsible for thermal-fluidic design and testing to maintain nominal temperatures, mechanical design and testing to survive launch vibrations, and DC power design and testing to achieve nominal magnetron operating conditions. •Responsible engineer for the system's mechanical design, functional testing, and vibration qualification test campaign•Assembled flight hardware and responsible for training technicians for future assembly workGeneral:•Developed a system to track and clearly understand the status of Momentus' R&D projects•R&D design and testing of Microwave Electrothermal Thrusters (MET) used on the Vigoride propulsion system•Responsible engineer for the thrust stand to characterize the Vigoride thruster. This stand is one of a few in the world that enables direct thrust measurements of a high power MET. Responsibilities included initial stand assembly, testing, system troubleshooting, data analysis, and developing novel solutions to mitigate drift due to waveguide connections.

West Lafayette, In, Us

•Characterized the properties of argon and nitrogen plasmas sustained by nanosecond pulse-width, kHz-MHz repetition rate pulses under various pressures and electrode spacings to determine their viability to creating reconfigurable plasma antennas with low Johnson Nyquist thermal noise•Created a reconfigurable quarter-wavelength monopole plasma antenna to operate at near GHz frequencies. Some benefits of a plasma antenna are it being able to be turned on and off (with a small radar cross section when off), it has a tunable bandwidth, and can withstand high powers.•Developed a 0-D kinetic model in MatLab to understand the electron-ion recombination in the afterglow, in between pulses, of an argon plasma with trace amounts of water vapor at several Torr•Constructed a microwave interferometry system to make time-resolved electron number density measurements•Assembled a residual gas analyzer (RGA) system to monitor the presence of impurities in experiments•Designed and fabricated two acrylic vacuum chambers and sets of electrodes to facilitate lab-wide experiments•Involved in the procurement of research equipment, tools, and everyday lab supplies to get the lab operational and ready for experiments.

Kent, Wa, Us

•Designed and assembled a rig to perform pin-on-disk testing to measure the wear of different material combinations by rotating one material relative to another at different speeds•Managed suppliers and machine shops to ensure timely delivery of all project components•Wrote and implemented a LabView code to control the motor of the test rig

Los Angeles, Ca, Us

Led a group in analyzing the behavior of a shape memory alloy wire in order to devise control strategies to develop sufficient actuation frequencies needed to sustain the flight of a microcombustion driven aerial microrobot

Hawthorne, California, Us

•Designed and performed finite element analysis on a lug to be used to lift a rocket from its shipping configuration into position on the transport erector and to mate with the ground support roll rings

Hawthorne, California, Us

•Automated the polarity testing process using a professional tilt-table system and time-synced cameras•Designed a precision tool to adjust fuel and oxidizer throttle valves•Performed tests to determine the cause of abnormal behavior of one of the axial actuators on the structures test stand•Developed and implemented a test plan to characterize how acoustics, structural vibrations, and electromagnetic interference from engine testing affect the cameras used to observe the process. •Designed, machined, and developed a portion of a tool used to integrate the engines with the rocket while the rocket is in a horizontal position

•Designed and conducted an experiment to measure the radiometric thrust of a multi-vane array in a rarified gas environment utilizing a radiative source as the thermal gradient driver for the first time. The results will help show the AFRL the viability of using this force as a propulsion source for near-space aircraft•Thermally isolated the thruster from the thrust stand to mitigate uncertainty, caused by the thermal expansion of the stand, seen in the measured force

Los Angeles, Ca, Us

VSAs are students devoted to providing prospective students with a representation of life as a USC engineering student•Co-Created the Viterbi Publication, a pamphlet distributed to prospective students that features current Viterbi students and their student life activitiesVTrain Manager: August 2012-May 2013 •Responsible for coordinating meetings and training events for all 25 members of the goup

Los Angeles, Ca, Us

•Measured in-plane shear properties, the compression strength after impact, and plain, open hole and filled hole compression strength of autoclaved and vacuum bagged carbon fiber samples•Conducted fatigue analysis on various samples of polymers to determine specific damping capacity for NextGen Aeronautics

Hawthorne, California, Us

•Designed an orbital tube weld tool for off-assembly M1D engine welding•Designed an engine plate simulator to align tubing between the first stage and the M1D engines during integration•Created a leak test procedure for the M1D rocket engine•Researched alternative leak test methods to be implemented on future engines to reduce cost and test time

Cincinnati, Oh, Us

•Analyzed contour data of the F-18 External Fuel Tank to qualify a new data acquisition procedure•Implemented an analysis of hours charged to the NAVY to validate $100,000 in costs•Project managed the fabrication of a developmental fuel tank for Boeing and completed it ahead of schedule•Designed a new shop floor layout as part of a LEAN event to increase production capacity of fuel tanks

•Conducted research on a new Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) thruster design to determine its thrust capabilities

Doctor Of Philosophy - Phd, Aerospace, Aeronautical And Astronautical Engineering

Master'S Degree, Mechanical Engineering

B.S, Aerospace Engineering

Education record

Doctor Of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Aerospace, Aeronautical And Astronautical Engineering

Bachelor Of Science - Bs