Soren Etkin

Worked on UCLA's liquid bipropellant engine team on research into our ablative and nozzle, helped designed systems based on that research and analysis, and manufactured the resulting engines.

• Designed and manufactured thirteen liquid bipropellant engines with peak thrust of 1110 lbf.
• Learned and implemented Ansys airflow, heat transfer, and pressure simulations, honed CAD skills, and created sims of our nozzle and injector that helped inform our design.
• Received practical machining and manufacturing experience with ablative, steel, aluminum, graphite and PLA 3D printing.
• Worked with linen phenolic ablative and used literature equations to create a heat transfer model that would help us predict and avoid a burn through.
• Conducted multiple hot fires and coldflows of our engines each quarter, and iterated engine design based on aquired data.
• Achieved apogee of 24,000ft.

Led the ignition team for UCLA's hybrid rocket team and worked closely with the engine on research, design, and machining.

• Designed and created six hybrid solid and liquid engines, researching and implementing an experimental solid fuel, ABS, manufacturing all parts in-house. Designed a pure liquid engine, and manufactured thirteen.
• Learned and implemented Ansys airflow, heat transfer, and pressure simulations, honed CAD skills, and created sims of our nozzle and injector that helped inform our design.
• Received practical machining and manufacturing experience with ablative, steel, aluminum, graphite and PLA 3D printing.
• Worked with linen phenolic ablative and used literature equations to create a heat transfer model that would help us predict and avoid a burn through.
• Got experience in a lab setting and conducted multiple hot fires and coldflows of our engines each quarter.
• Learned to work well in a collaborative setting by sharing work and communicating clearly between team members.