PhD Candidate, Faculty of Engineering, Computing and the Environment, Kingston University
I worked as an engineer in the automotive industry for 25 years, followed by a brief stint working in the claims industry. Finally, for the last 12 years, I have been teaching mathematics and physics up to A-level standard. I am now a PhD research student in the area of Astrodynamics.
Whilst working as an engineer I became a technical trainer, writing and running courses, some of which were Geometric Tolerancing, Experimental Design, Robustness and Presentation Skills. I worked on the shop floor and in production engineering as well as in quality control. As a technical trainer for an engineering management and training company, I became the company subject matter expert for Experimental Design and Taguchi Methods.
My PhD project aims to create a computer simulation of the time and space-dependent nature of spacecraft trajectories. Based on the knowledge gained from these simulations, exemplar trajectories for space mining activities will be explored.
The project requires the use of astrodynamic methods to analyse and identify possible low-fuel trajectories to asteroids within our solar system. Stable and unstable manifolds will be used to find heteroclinic connections between different Three-Body planetary systems. An ephemeris model and statistical analysis will identify trajectories that optimise time and fuel requirements.