UCI Rocket Project — Liquids

Propulsion Engineer, then Project Manager & Test Program Manager · May 2025 – Present

UCI Rocket Project's Liquids team is building the university's second liquid bi-propellant rocket. I joined in May 2025 as a propulsion engineer, and since March 2026 I have led the team as its Project Manager and Test Program Manager.

CAD render of UCI's second liquid bi-propellant rocket, a slender airframe with a blue and grey nose cone and cruciform tail fins, internal tankage visible through the skin — UCI Rocket Project's second liquid bi-propellant rocket.

Project Manager & Test Program Manager

March 2026 – Present

rocket.eng.uci.edu/liquids

I lead the Liquids team as its Project Manager and Test Program Manager, a role I took over in March 2026. The team is more than thirty students from across mechanical, aerospace, electrical, and software engineering, and I own its schedule against our major milestones and its budget, which runs to about $60,000 over the school year.

As Test Program Manager I am responsible for the logistical readiness of every test we run, from propellant cold flows and engine hot-fires to solid motor launches. I am also the team's first point of contact with the university and with our industry sponsors, and I represent the team at recruitment and outreach events.

I came onto the team as a propulsion engineer, and the four projects below were mine over the year before I stepped into leading it.

Aras in a UCI Rocket Project polo talking with prospective members at an outdoor recruitment table, a rocket airframe and a nose cone on display behind him — Representing the team at recruitment and outreach events.

Aras in a UCI Rocket Project polo speaking with a group of students at an indoor information session — Representing the team at recruitment and outreach events.

Propulsion Engineer

May 2025 – March 2026

I joined the Liquids team in May 2025 as a propulsion engineer. Over the next year I owned four parts of the propulsion and ground support system: the cascading K-bottle manifold, the feed system manifolds, a venturi flow meter, and the engine mount.

Cascading K-bottle manifold

Filling a rocket's propellant tanks to flight pressure takes high-pressure gas, and running that gas from a single K-bottle empties the bottle quickly and lets its pressure sag as it drains. I designed and validated a cascading K-bottle manifold for automated tank pressurization. Four nitrogen K-bottles are staged at descending pressures, from 6,000 psi down to 2,000, and drawn down in sequence, so the manifold holds a regulated tank pressure while pulling far more usable gas from each bottle before it has to be changed out.

Automating the pressurization cut the turnaround between a cold flow and a hot-fire by 50%, opened up running two hot-fires in a single test day, and saved the team about $3,000.

Piping and instrumentation diagram of the cascading manifold: four nitrogen K-bottles at 6,000 down to 2,000 psi feeding a common regulated rail through pneumatic valves and a shared regulator — The piping and instrumentation diagram for the cascading manifold.

CAD of the K-bottle manifold: four K-bottles racked into an aluminium extrusion frame with a strongback and a linear slide — The manifold in CAD, the assembled system on the test stand, a night cold flow, and a water flow test.

The four K-bottles manifolded together in their frame on the test stand, a braided line running up to the vehicle — The manifold in CAD, the assembled system on the test stand, a night cold flow, and a water flow test.

Feed system manifolds

Working from designs by fellow propulsion engineer Troy Holly, I machined and tested three feed system manifolds, one each for the liquid oxygen (LOX), liquefied natural gas (LNG), and pressurant (COPV) lines. Each one consolidates a cluster of tube fittings into a single machined block, and every fitting removed is one less place the feed system can leak. Before cutting metal I ran the stress analysis on the LNG manifold to confirm the block kept margin at operating pressure, then machined all three and leak-checked them on the vehicle.

Two of the machined aluminum manifold blocks on a workbench, drilled and tapped with threaded ports — The machined feed system manifolds, one installed on the vehicle, and the stress analysis of the LNG block.

A manifold block installed on the vehicle with fittings running to the foil-wrapped tank — The machined feed system manifolds, one installed on the vehicle, and the stress analysis of the LNG block.

Venturi flow meter

To tune the engine's injector, the team needed its discharge coefficient: the fraction of the ideal flow the injector orifices actually pass once friction and sharp edges are accounted for. Measuring the real mass flow rate through the injector and comparing it against the ideal Bernoulli prediction gives that number, and it sets how the injector inlet pressures are trimmed for a stable chamber pressure.

I designed a water venturi to ISO 5167-4 and made it in house. I drilled and reamed the throat to diameter and used a boring bar for the converging and diverging profiles, then tapped both pressure-transducer ports with NPT threads. The venturi was designed for a 100 psi pressure differential across the throat, and it achieved that differential during testing.

CAD section of the venturi inside its housing: the bore converges to a throat, with two pressure taps upstream and one at the throat — The venturi flow meter: the section and the dimensioned profile, both to ISO 5167-4, and the in-house water test where it hit its 100 psi throat differential.

Engine mount

I manufactured the engine mount that carries the methalox engine on the horizontal test stand for cold flows and static hot-fires. It is a welded steel structure with a machined saddle that locates the engine and reacts its thrust into the stand. I cut and welded it in the machine shop, and it has taken the load on every cold flow and hot-fire the team has run since.

Aras in a hard hat and face shield grinding a steel part, sparks flying, at a bench in the machine shop — Fabricating the engine mount in the machine shop.

The engine at full thrust on the horizontal test stand, a long orange plume with a blue flame at the nozzle extending to the left — A static hot-fire on the horizontal test stand.

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