Peter Ha

Mechanical Engineer

With experience in engineering and politics, Peter found success pushing boundaries in both labs and campaign headquarters. He seeks opportunities to find unique solutions to rapidly evolving, multifaceted challenges on the cutting edge of possibility.


Experience

Propulsion Engineer (Full Time)

Rogue Space Systems Corporation

Leading design of a 6-degree of freedom (6-DoF) resistojet reaction control system (RCS) module integrated into an ion thruster, using a single tank of water, creating a highly capable propulsion module for stationkeeping and proximity operations with minimal additional system complexity

Developing a fuel delivery system for a hall effect thruster for a National Science Foundation grant, sublimating a slug of solid metal while maintaining system temperatures to match Ansys simulated requirements

Composed a campaign for the on-orbit testing of a novel thruster concept.

Planned and simulated mission concepts in Systems Tool Kit (STK) to define system requirements for thrusters

Served as principal investigator on a Phase I SpaceWerx Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) investigating novel applications for location and orbital propagation on autonomous satellites not reliant on GPS

Integrated components and their interfaces for a 12U cubesat on a rapidly evolving mission on a tight timeline, while meeting regulatory and launch provider requirements

Designed numerous brackets and mechanical interfaces in SolidWorks, and simulated mechanical stresses in Ansys Mechanical

May 2022 - Present

Aerospace Engineering Intern

Rogue Space Systems Corporation

Integrated components and their interfaces for a 12U cubesat on a rapidly evolving mission on a tight timeline

Liaised the integration of various parts from several manufacturers, ensuring their compliance with internal and external design criteria

CADed and analyzed structural components through FEA

May 2020 - Jan 2021

Vice Director

Boston University Rocket Propulsion Group

Elected Vice Director of Boston University Rocket Propulsion Group, serving as the team's technical leader during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic

September 2020 - Present

Engine Development Lead

Boston University Rocket Propulsion Group

Pivoted from a new engine architecture towards iterating on a proven heritage, streamlining our testing timeline with a heavy focus on reducing cost, manufacturing difficulty, and system complexity

Led a team of undergraduate and graduate students on a very tight timeline and budget in the design of a liquid bi-propellant, regeneratively cooled rocket engine

October 2020 - Present

Mechanical Engineer

Boston University Rocket Propulsion Group

Worked alongside undergraduate and graduate students in the design and assembly of launch vehicles and support systems for them

Designed, extensively simulated, assembled, and launched an H-class high powered rocket to reach an altitude of 2500 ft while sending telemetry data to a base station on the ground in a team comprised primarily of fellow freshmen

Developed the Ghost Series of engines, a pair of liquid bi-propellant coaxial swirl rocket engines for ground testing and flight vehicles, focusing on chamber and nozzle geometry, as well as engine structure

September 2018 - Present

Fellow

Committee to Elect Jay Gonzalez

Organized, canvassed, and called in a field-focused approach to promoting and supporting Jay Gonzalez's campaign for governor of Massachusetts, connecting to thousands of Massachusetts voters and activists, communicating with them about the issues facing both them and the Commonwealth

July - November 2018

Mechanical Student

FIRST Robotics Competition Team 125

Drafted, machined, and assembled engineering solutions for four robots, ranging in complexity from movement to manipulation systems on FRC team 125, the NUTRONs

Served as a leading mechanical student, finding solutions to complex engineering problems while working with and leading fellow high schoolers in designing a competition robot

September 2014 - April 2018

Education

Boston University

Bachelor of Science
Mechanical Engineering
Class of 2022
Relevant Coursework:
Mechanical Vibration, Compressible Flow and Propulsion, Aerodynamics, Space Vehicle Dynamics, Aircraft Performance and Design, Measurement and Instrumentation, Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics, Energy and Thermodynamics, Manufacturing Processes, Mechanics of Materials, Material Science, Intro to CAD, Electric Circuits, Probability Statistics and Data Science, Computational Linear Algebra
September 2018 - May 2022

Portfolio

Minimum Viable Lotus (MVL)

MVL is a liquid bi-propellant ablative rocket engine, with a graphite chamber and showerhead injector.

I lead redesign of the injector previously designed for our last generation of regeneratively cooled engines, now refocusing on the minimum cost and complexity engine capable of flight.

Redesign focused on tolerance analysis and optimization of DFM practices to make as many iterations as necessary in the event of failure in testing, or future design improvements, while creating a minimal budget hit.

Lotus Dev 3

LD3 is a liquid bi-propellant, regeneratively cooled rocket engine designed by a team of students. It builds on the Lotus series by dramatically cutting cost and complexity. Spearheading the project, I led the team direction in addition to injector design.

Note that as LD3 is still in the early phases of design, the attached reference photo is of LD2.


Casper

Designed to provide testing and operations experience, as well as data for more comprehensive thermal modeling, Casper was the result of two semesters of learning and rapid iteration. Casper is a liquid bi-propellant heatsink engine, and is planned for hotfiring when group travel is possible after the COVID-19 pandemic.

View Project

Skills

Design, Analysis, and Fabrication
  • Rapid prototyping and iteration
  • Design for manufacturing
  • Design for assembly
  • Rocket propulsion
  • Orbital dynamics
  • Manual and CNC milling
  • Manual and CNC lathes
  • Additive manufacturing
Software
  • SolidWorks
  • MATLAB
  • SolidWorks FEA
  • Ansys Mechanical
  • Systems Tool Kit
  • General Mission Analysis Tool

Interests

In my free time, I am an amateur chess player and analog photographer. I play the Ruy Lopez, Danish Gambit, Smith-Morra Gambit, Sicilian Dragon, and the King's Indian Defense. I primarily use a Canon AE-1 Program, Yashica Mat 124-G, and a Polaroid OneStep+.

Try the lichess.org daily puzzle!

My friend's cat, Fish. Taken on Kodak Ektachrome with my Canon AE-1 Program.