Sila K.

Experience

• Freelancer cad crowd, Upwork · Freelance Aug 2026 – Present 3 mos Istanbul, İstanbul, Türkiye Doing freelancer work to support my masters studies.
• Researcher MoEP · Part-time Nov 2025 – Present 1 yrs Istanbul, İstanbul, Türkiye • Delivered 20+ biweekly presentations examining how space weather conditions impact orbital stability,
  communications, and spacecraft safety from a systems engineering perspective.
  • Designed a VLF (3-30 kHz) antenna and receiver setup using SDR tools, resulting in continuous signal tracking of
  international beacon stations for ionospheric disturbance monitoring.
• Candidate Engineer DeltaV Space Technologies · Part-time Jan 2026 – Jun 2026 5 mos Istanbul, İstanbul, Türkiye • Sized bipropellant injector geometries in MATLAB using CEA and CoolProp, solving coupled mass flow/pressure-drop
  iterations and implementing Homogeneous Equilibrium Model (HEM) to account for near saturation oxidizer flashing.
  • Conducted cold flow discharge coefficient testing on 20+ 3D-printed injector configurations spanning orifice
  diameters from 0.15 mm to 1 mm, identifying manufacturing defects (blocked orifices) in several sub-mm units before
  they reached hot fire.
  • Supported hot fire testing across 3 candidate thruster liner materials (carbon-carbon, silica phenolic, quartz phenolic)
  over a 60+ test campaign, characterizing degradation trends to inform liner material selection.
  • Supported static hot fire campaigns for the AYAP-1 lunar hybrid propulsion system (650N thrust), eliminating
  combustion pressure oscillations via chamfering and sequence timing optimization (30+ pyrotechnic igniters used).
  • Engineered regenerative cooling channels for a 25N thruster using CATIA, applying Darcy-Weisbach friction
  modeling to calculate coolant pressure drops and prevent flow choking across micro-channel geometries.
  • Designed a Simulink blowdown simulation for propellant lines, incorporating dynamic Darcy-Weisbach friction and
  real fluid tables, improving transient mass flow and pressure decay prediction.
• Space Systems Student Engineer Space Systems Design and Test Laboratory · Internship Oct 2025 – Jan 2026 3 mos Istanbul, İstanbul, Türkiye • Analyzed steady-state and transient orbital heat transfer using Siemens NX TMG Space Thermal, improving CubeSat
  electronics packaging thermal reliability within operational limits across sunlit/eclipse orbital cycles.
  • Analyzed aerospace testing methodologies and standard reporting frameworks to support flight-readiness
  documentation on future CubeSat campaigns.
• Undergraduate Student Researcher Upper Atmosphere and Space Weather Laboratory · Internship Aug 2024 – Sep 2025 1 yrs 1 mos Istanbul, İstanbul, Türkiye • Optimized the laboratory’s thermospheric modeling workflow by integrating NRLMSISE-00 empirical models for the
  first time and assisted other 2+ researchers in learning how to use the model.
  • Analyzed atmospheric model density outputs against actual satellite telemetry measurements, improving LEO orbit
  prediction accuracy by evaluating and quantifying space weather-induced drag errors.
  • Conducted operational space weather monitoring and forecasting during the solar maximum year using ISWA,
  StereoCat, and CCMC DONKI databases.
  • Captured 10+ solar images using a H-alpha filtered telescope, followed by image processing with AutoStakkert,
  SharpCap and Adobe Photoshop.