Daniel Engel: summer 2022 internship Q & A

11/23/2022 Debra Levey Larson

Written by Debra Levey Larson

What did you do last summer?

This is part of a series of Q&As with aerospace graduate students who had summer internships.

Daniel Engel
Daniel Engel

Daniel Engel, B.S. ’20, M.S. ’22, is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Aerospace Engineering. His adviser is Zach Putnam. This past summer, he had an in-person internship at the NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.

What did you do?

DE: Over the summer, I implemented and tested a control algorithm I developed in my research at Illinois into the Program to Optimize Simulated Trajectories II for a simulation of a human-scale Mars entry vehicle with aerodynamic flaps. I also compared aerodynamic models I have used in my research to wind tunnel data performed at NASA Langley. Lastly, I continued some of the research I had been working on last spring on optimal trajectories for Mars entry vehicles.

What did a typical day look like for you?

DE: I spent most of my time working on the various tasks/projects I did throughout the summer. Many days also included facility tours or seminars on various aspects of entry, descent, and landing systems.

Who were your mentors on the project?

DE: I worked with Soumyo Dutta, who is my NASA research collaborator.

What was the most challenging aspect of the summer internship?

DE: The most challenging aspect of the summer was debugging and getting my control algorithm to work in POST2.

What was the most rewarding aspect?

DE: The most rewarding aspect of this summer was finally getting to meet mentors and engineers in the Atmospheric Flight and Entry Systems Branch at Langley, who I have known for several years but had never met in person until this summer.

What did you learn about science?

DE: I realized that it is more difficult to use aerodynamic flaps for entry-from-orbit at Mars than it is for direct hyperbolic entries. This is due to the lower entry velocities associated with entering from orbit, resulting in a lower dynamic pressure, and hence decreased flap control authority.

What did you learn about yourself?

DE: I learned how much I enjoy in-person work experiences. I found it really neat to see all of the facilities at NASA Langley and take in all of the important history there.


Share this story

This story was published November 23, 2022.