Drew DeHaven and Eduardo Gracia Rodriguez were among approximately 13 students from Texas A&M University who spent the fall semester working at the SpaceX Starbase at the Boca Chica, Texas launch site through the co-op job experience program. |
Image: Justin Baetge, Texas A&M Engineering
Two seniors in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Texas A&M University, Drew DeHaven and Eduardo Gracia Rodriguez, spent the fall semester working at the SpaceX Starbase at the Boca Chica, Texas, launch site. They were among approximately 13 students from Texas A&M who worked there through the co-op job experience program that allows students to enroll in school full time while still working.
Gracia and DeHaven were both on the power distribution team, working as launch engineers on various projects pertaining to different aspects of the launchpad to get the SN20 ready for its upcoming orbital launch to Mars.
The SN20 (“Serial No. 20”) is the latest development from SpaceX designed for deep-space missions, with the goal of bringing astronauts to Mars. This steel starship is the world’s tallest rocket/booster combination towering 395 feet off the ground. While the launch date has been pushed back due to testing due to regulatory issues, the goal is to get this rocket into orbit by late March at the earliest.
“It was incredibly cool to get to drive up every day and see the launch pad and the rockets. It’s very surreal being out there on the beach and seeing everything that’s been built,” DeHaven said. “Pretty much the whole site was built in less than a year, so it just popped up out there. And it only happened because people were so motivated by the overall mission.”
One of the team’s main focuses is producing and using electricity while helping assemble a rocket that can launch into orbit using a fraction of the power of a regular rocket. This required making modifications daily to ensure the rocket was ready for its next test.
These goals required many cross-functional teams working at a breakneck pace to make sure the rocket, and all of the support pieces, were ready for the next test. Gracia worked on circuit design and powering motors and pumps, and DeHaven focused on automated controls.
All of the rocket’s components are designed to catch themselves upon landing — something that has never been done on this scale — with the support of a launch pad and launch tower designed specifically for this purpose. The ship's booster has several grid fins allowing it to control itself upon landing to make sure the ship lands fully intact and it can be used in future missions. The grid fins also have the ability to target the launch tower once the ship lands. This is a big initiative by SpaceX to ensure the ship is fully reusable.
“I was born in Mexico, and I moved to Brownsville when I was in fourth grade. I was living there when the site was just a nose cone, the front tip of a rocket, and a lot of grass. There was nothing else, so this is really interesting to see now,” Gracia said. “It was also great to see some people that I knew and recognized, including some of my friends that I went to high school with. I was very proud to see other people like me working there at Starbase. I know another one of the electrical engineering interns there was also a local from the valley, and she did amazing work. My community is not the most recognized. So, it just proves that you can still make it out there, and you can still do great things.”
Both Gracia and DeHaven enjoyed working with many high-producing, like-minded teams being a big motivator behind keeping up with fast-paced processes and projects. Working with other engineers and electricians encouraged them to exchange information between classes and textbooks and some of the hands-on projects they were involved in.
“I can remember on my last day we were doing a test where they fire the engines, and you have to evacuate the launch pad, which is normally filled with people. Since it was my last day, I was expecting it to be kind of a chill day, but there was some issue on the control side, so I had to go down to the launch pad,” DeHaven said. “I was the only one out there in the middle of evacuation going through security and getting all the approvals to fix the issue and come all the way back to get it working. Everything I had learned over the internship had come together at that moment to know how to solve that issue and get things working.”
Spending the semester out in the field as part of a multifaceted team working on projects and processes, they said was a very rewarding experience and something they hope to continue in their careers.
“One of my favorite memories is working with Drew. I could work with another intern, and we got our hands dirty, and this project is completely independent of anyone. It was a lot of ownership, and that’s something I really enjoyed. It was just the two of us working there late, trying to get a pump to run. It was a fun experience,” Gracia said. “It’s a great motivator to wake up every day and come to work and be excited about it, and I think that’s what the majority of others at SpaceX also think.”
Gracia and DeHaven were both on the power distribution team, working as launch engineers on various projects pertaining to different aspects of the launchpad to get the SN20 ready for its upcoming orbital launch to Mars.
The SN20 (“Serial No. 20”) is the latest development from SpaceX designed for deep-space missions, with the goal of bringing astronauts to Mars. This steel starship is the world’s tallest rocket/booster combination towering 395 feet off the ground. While the launch date has been pushed back due to testing due to regulatory issues, the goal is to get this rocket into orbit by late March at the earliest.
“It was incredibly cool to get to drive up every day and see the launch pad and the rockets. It’s very surreal being out there on the beach and seeing everything that’s been built,” DeHaven said. “Pretty much the whole site was built in less than a year, so it just popped up out there. And it only happened because people were so motivated by the overall mission.”
One of the team’s main focuses is producing and using electricity while helping assemble a rocket that can launch into orbit using a fraction of the power of a regular rocket. This required making modifications daily to ensure the rocket was ready for its next test.
These goals required many cross-functional teams working at a breakneck pace to make sure the rocket, and all of the support pieces, were ready for the next test. Gracia worked on circuit design and powering motors and pumps, and DeHaven focused on automated controls.
All of the rocket’s components are designed to catch themselves upon landing — something that has never been done on this scale — with the support of a launch pad and launch tower designed specifically for this purpose. The ship's booster has several grid fins allowing it to control itself upon landing to make sure the ship lands fully intact and it can be used in future missions. The grid fins also have the ability to target the launch tower once the ship lands. This is a big initiative by SpaceX to ensure the ship is fully reusable.
“I was born in Mexico, and I moved to Brownsville when I was in fourth grade. I was living there when the site was just a nose cone, the front tip of a rocket, and a lot of grass. There was nothing else, so this is really interesting to see now,” Gracia said. “It was also great to see some people that I knew and recognized, including some of my friends that I went to high school with. I was very proud to see other people like me working there at Starbase. I know another one of the electrical engineering interns there was also a local from the valley, and she did amazing work. My community is not the most recognized. So, it just proves that you can still make it out there, and you can still do great things.”
Both Gracia and DeHaven enjoyed working with many high-producing, like-minded teams being a big motivator behind keeping up with fast-paced processes and projects. Working with other engineers and electricians encouraged them to exchange information between classes and textbooks and some of the hands-on projects they were involved in.
“I can remember on my last day we were doing a test where they fire the engines, and you have to evacuate the launch pad, which is normally filled with people. Since it was my last day, I was expecting it to be kind of a chill day, but there was some issue on the control side, so I had to go down to the launch pad,” DeHaven said. “I was the only one out there in the middle of evacuation going through security and getting all the approvals to fix the issue and come all the way back to get it working. Everything I had learned over the internship had come together at that moment to know how to solve that issue and get things working.”
Spending the semester out in the field as part of a multifaceted team working on projects and processes, they said was a very rewarding experience and something they hope to continue in their careers.
“One of my favorite memories is working with Drew. I could work with another intern, and we got our hands dirty, and this project is completely independent of anyone. It was a lot of ownership, and that’s something I really enjoyed. It was just the two of us working there late, trying to get a pump to run. It was a fun experience,” Gracia said. “It’s a great motivator to wake up every day and come to work and be excited about it, and I think that’s what the majority of others at SpaceX also think.”