Chris Turner

I lead one of the mechanical design and development efforts for an advanced aerospace test facility, overseeing all mechanical subsystem design activities and ensuring alignment with program objectives. I direct and coordinate subcontracted engineering teams, providing technical guidance to achieve high-quality, cost-effective, and timely project delivery. I manage design efforts across facility subsystems, including high-pressure air systems, thermal management infrastructure, structural components, and test interface hardware. I served as the primary technical contact for mechanical design, collaborating with internal stakeholders, subcontractors, and partners to resolve critical design challenges and maintain system requirements. I worked closely with the Program Manager to ensure subsystem development meets facility-level requirements and program milestones. I ensured compliance with relevant codes, standards, safety regulations, and performance specifications throughout all design phases. I prepare and review technical documentation, including system requirements, design packages, technical memoranda, and risk assessments. I also supported design reviews (CoDR, PDR, CDR), configuration control, and system integration planning.

I provide mechanical design and integration expertise in support of the BE-3U rocket engine development and production activities. My responsibilities include coordination of multi-disciplinary teams in the development of aerospace products, optimizing component designs for integration and manufacturability, review of budget/schedule/scope, risk management, review of product Technical Data Packages, lead/participate in design reviews, resolving manufacturing issues including identifying root cause(s) and implementation of corrective actions, developing agile life cycle processes, requirements development, review/approval of acceptance and qualification test plans, development and approval of requirement verification and validation plans, and providing subject matter expertise for system architecture development.

Supporting MITRE's Mechanical Reliability Systems and Prototype Development Department. I provide Mechanical Engineering Subject Matter Expertise (SME) and Model Based Systems Engineering (MSBE) support to Department of Defense (DOD) sponsors. These areas of support include sustaining engineering, CAD interoperability research, MBSE and digital engineering support roles. My roles and responsibilities include: identifying technical issues with production hardware and providing corrective action recommendations, review of technical data packages to ensure form, fit and function of the system, support the organizational assessments and implementation of digital engineering methodologies across several organizations. Additionally, I leveraged my expertise in CAD and PLM/PDM software for the development and implementation of digital threads and digital twins for sponsors and support reverse engineering and re-engineering efforts to support agile additive manufacturing solutions.

As a SLS Structural Design/Integration Team Lead my responsibilities included: managing personnel and customer interfaces, hiring and development of employees, perform safety visits and meetings, communicating department goals and objectives, authorizing deliverables, managing product delivery schedule, conducting personnel performance evaluations, managing delivery of assigned work and monitoring financial analysis and variances. I also provided Systems Engineering support for verification closure for the NASA Artemis program.

I supported interface design definition, requirements development, and verification planning for proposed systems within the Artemis Gateway Habitat Element, and primary components. I coordinated with various interdisciplinary teams, across various elements, to develop interface requirements for Gateway integrated stack configurations. I identified design options within the solution space and lead or support functional architecting and/or functional analyses. I perform thorough technical assessments of proposed internal and external interface requirements to understand the impacts imposed by modifications. I assisted with the functional decomposition of interface requirements into verification requirements which can be verified and validated. I supported the development and coordination of Interface Requirement Document(s) (IRD) as well as Interface Control Document(s) (ICD) to ensure the necessary and complete integration of requirements for the NASA Gateway to Human Landing System (HLS) and Orion Programs. I identified and communicated risks associated with interface requirements via the NASA Risk Management System.

Responsible Engineering Authority (REA) for developing design and system solutions for Raytheon Missile Systems' Mechanical Subsystem Division (MSD). Led delivery of technical design packages and coordinated design efforts with the Chief Engineer. Raytheon Missile Systems (RMS) is the world leader in the design, development and production of missile systems for critical requirement including air-to-air, strike, surface Navy air defense, land combat missiles, guided projectiles, exoatmospheric kill vehicles, missile defense and directed energy weapons. RMS is headquartered in Tucson, Arizona.

Member of the Vehicle Integration Team for NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) Heavy Lift Rocket. Our group was responsible for developing the vehicle Alignment Control Models (ACM), Outer Mold Line (OML) Computer Aided Design (CAD) models and various Interface Definition Package models (IDP) utilizing CAD software. These products are utilized to define launch vehicle design integration with other elements. Stage element gross dimensional tolerances are determined and subsequently rolled up into the integrated vehicle data package that we develop as an input for GN&C 6-DOF simulations.

I provided sustaining engineering support for the International Space Station (ISS) Environmental Control Life Support System (ECLSS) rack. The sustaining engineering effort included identification and resolution of manufacturing, operational and configuration issues. I also served as the Task Lead for the pathfinder NASA-Army avionics mass reduction task. This effort focused on preliminary studies on reduction of mass through the use of composite structures and integration of modified hardware, updated wiring harnesses and electrical components related to avionics packages, utilizing ProEngineer 5.0 Computer Aided Drafting (CAD) package.

I served as the Lead Component Design Team (CDT) Engineer for the NASA ARES I Upper Stage Systems Tunnel team. I led the ARES Upper Stage Composite Systems Tunnel Integrated Product Team (IPT) design team in a successful effort to design and integrate the NASA Constellation Ares I Upper Stage Composite Systems Tunnel Assembly. I led the development and release, of parametric 3D models and assemblies, compliant to the MSFC-STD-3528 and MSFC-STD-2806 standards. I also developed technical data packages and presentations in support of design reviews and control boards. In additional I coordinated the development of analysis, damage tolerance and verification efforts in support of the design cycle. I successfully lead a team of over 25 engineers and scientists in the successful design, integration, qualification and verification efforts of several composite components through Critical Design Review.

I designed test fixtures, mechanical test specimens/assemblies, produced test plans and performed analysis in support of Shuttle Accident Investigation, Return to Flight and In-Flight Anomaly efforts. I also supervised and coordinated efforts of a team of machinists and engineers in order to achieve testing milestones. In addition to the use of Finite Element Analysis (FEA) programs in order to verify test results, I have also gained experience with the use of Design of Experiment software (DOE) to optimize Friction Stir Weld Parameters (FSW) for NASA's next generation CLV (Crew Launch Vehicles) upper stage cryogenic fuel tanks.

I designed and integrated hardware, fluid, and electrical systems in support of International Space Station Racks (ISSR), specifically the Material Science Research Rack (MSRR-1). Development and release, of parametric 3D Mechanical Computer Aided Design (MCAD) models and associated ANSI 14.5M-1982/1994 standard drawings in support of NASA space flight projects.