SpaceX

Intern, Starlink Hardware Reliability Engineering: June 2024 - September 2024

During the summer of 2024, I interned at SpaceX as a Hardware Reliability Engineering Intern on the Starlink team and had an amazing experience. Due to confidentiality reasons, I am limited in what I can disclose here. Throughout my internship, I developed a high-pressure, high temperature spray test chamber to recreate extreme cleaning conditions to test Starlink dishes. This involved designing a watertight enclosure, recirculating pump system, and UL508A compliant control panel to power everything. I also designed and tested a pressurized water tank to simulate water immersion up to 3.5 meters depth, used to test the IP ratings of Starlink hardware.

The team at Bastrop — The Starlink team at Bastrop

Starlink dish in rain — Starlink dish surviving in severe weather

Requirements for IPX9K test — ISO requirements for IPX9K testing

Starlink satellite coverage — Map of the Starlink satellite constellation