Kate Clements

Title: Aerospace Engineer – Vehicle Analysis Branch (VAB)
Systems Analysis and Concepts Directorate (SACD)

Technical Focus Area: Aerothermodynamics

Missions/Projects: Entry Systems Modeling (ESM), Hypersonic Technology Project (HTP) 

Kate Clements joined NASA Langley and the Vehicle Analysis Branch in 2023. She performs computational aerothermal analysis related to planetary entry vehicles and air-breathing hypersonic vehicles.

Prior to joining NASA, she worked for Aerojet Rocketdyne as a Combustion Devices Engineer in the RS-25 rocket engine program and then for Calspan Advanced Solutions (now part of North Wind) in fuel systems for hypersonic vehicles.

Kate has a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from Saint Louis University and a M.S. from Purdue University with a focus on propulsion and combustion. During her time at SLU, she worked on CubeSats in the Space Systems Research Lab and completed internships at The Aerospace Corporation and Baylor University’s Center for Astrophysics, Space Physics & Engineering Research (CASPER). While at Purdue, she worked at Zucrow Labs researching rocket propellants, particularly hypergolic hybrids, and completed an internship at Blue Origin’s BE-4 rocket engine test facility in West Texas.

Education
M.S. Engineering, Purdue University (2020)

B.S. Aerospace Engineering, Saint Louis University (2017)

Selected Publications
Clements, K. A., West, T. K., Brune, A. J., “Arcjet Modeling for Efficient Characterization of Thermal Protection System Materials in a CO2-Rich Environment,” AIAA Aviation Forum, Las Vegas, NV, July 2025.

Clements, K. A., Örnek, M., Manship, T. D., Piercey, D. G., and Son, S. F., “A Core-Shell Approach to Greener Solid Propellant Oxidizers,” AIAA Propulsion and Energy Forum, virtual, Aug. 2021.

Clements, K. A., Baier, M. J., Ramachandran, P. V., and Son, S. F., “An Experimental Study of Factors Affecting Hypergolic Ignition of Ammonia Borane,” Journal of Propulsion and Power, vol. 27, no. 2, pp. 202-210, March 2021.