Back to Profiles

Description: R&D: reusable launchers "DLR is Germany's largest aerospace contractor employing thousands of workers at several locations throughout Germany. The location I worked at, Köln, is mostly an administrative site, but also houses some research groups. My branch is an analysis group and basically crunches numbers for other entities who request it to determine whether certain upgrades to the European launcher are theoretically possible. They are also working on the concept of a Liquid Fly-Back Booster (LFBB) which would allow the first stage of the Ariane-Europe's current launcher-to be reused. / My first project was to model the rocket engine parts and fuel lines of the LFBB in a 3-D CAD program called I-DEAS. Although I have had previous CAD experience, this was a new program for me so I first had to spend a few weeks learning how to use it. After the modeling was completed I was assigned a programming project in C++. Again, this was a new language for me so I had to spend some time learning it before I could begin. The program takes the output from an aerodynamic analysis program, selects the pertinent geometric data, and then calculates the profile of a rocket and its boosters from the front, side, and top views. It then outputs that data into another file which is read by a graphics program and then drawn".