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I Am Building SLS: Manish Mehta, Aerospace Engineer

I started a graduate fellowship with NASA in 2006 while working on my doctorate in engineering at the University of Michigan. My focus in graduate school was in the area of gas, fluid and granular dynamics for space systems. My dissertation directly involved NASA’s Phoenix Mars Mission — designed to study the landing phase of the spacecraft on Mars. Once I was involved with a NASA program, I was sold.

I began working at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in 2010. I am an aerospace engineer and lead technical engineer for the Space Launch System (SLS) Pathfinder and Main Base Heating test programs.

The Pathfinder team is composed of a small group of talented engineers and technicians at the Marshall Center; Calspan-University of Buffalo Research Center Inc. in Buffalo, N.Y.; and NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. We designed and tested 2-percent scale models of the SLS core stage engines and solid rocket motors for base heating tests later this summer. The tests will help us better understand the heating environments that the base of the SLS will experience upon ascent. It’s really exciting to develop hardware that involves the expertise of so many technical fields. I look forward to the work ahead that will benefit SLS.
My advice to students would be to study hard in whatever field you pursue. There’s no substitute for hard work. Also, think outside the box whenever possible.