Steele Fritchie

• Leading a team of five elite engineers, conceptualize and develop an airbrake system to use on the 2027 rocket, as well as leverage understanding of systems to assist the overall configuration of the ballast and other systems.

• Petal-Actuated flaps create a drag producing surface to hit a precise selected apogee.

• Using real-time input variables, a machine learning model trained on 100,000+ simulated flights predict a projected apogee and calculates optimal deployment and retraction time and length of airbrake flaps.

• Led a team of 16 engineers, using knowledge and understanding of rocketry to alter, optimize, and adjust existing and integrating new systems to the OMEGA 2026 LU rocket, which placed 18th at 2026 IREC.

• Optimize a LORA mesh network by reducing nodes, shifting components, and using YAGI antennas to combat interference experienced at competition when relaying information including start commands and packets.

• Reworked ground station code which analyzes data from sensors on a custom student developed STM-32 based flight computer which relays real time data to graph on a student developed ground station program.

• Iterative design processes used to integrate electronic components for critical recovery systems as well as telemetry through extensive 3D modeling and printing of mounting solutions for electronics and integrating them on the rocket.

• Used iterative design processes to 3D model and print an optimized avionics bay which holds mission-critical electronics.

• Created, wired, and tested several versions; the optimized avionics bay was used in the team’s 10k COTS 2025 competition rocket, Trinity, and received several on-the-spot commendations from IREC judges for its design.

• Featured wire channels and component slots where every component and wire had an intentional placement and routing.