Karyn S. (Spiecker) Downs
Staff Engineer, X33 Program
Lockheed Martin
Astronautics
Degree:
B.S. with Special Honors in Chemical Engineering (May
1984)
Honors:
National Merit Scholar; Boettcher Scholar; CU President's Leadership
Class Scholar; several misc. other scholarships for academic merit
(including a Regent's scholarship from CU); member of Tau Beta Pi and
Omega Chi Epsilon engineering honorary societies.
Career Highlights:
I have been employed by Lockheed Martin Astronautics (formerly Martin
Marietta) in the southwest Denver metro area since July 1984. I began
as an Associate Engineer and have been promoted through the ranks of
Engineer, Senior Engineer, and am now a Staff Engineer. For most of my
career, I have been involved in aspects of the selecting, testing and
research/development of non-metallic materials for use in
aerospace-related applications.
My past assignments have included work on the following topics:
- doing manufacturing assembly planning for classified space
structures;
- testing exterior coatings for the Space Station;
- Principal Investigator (i.e., researcher) for developing a new
thermal insulation that is widely used today on commercial aircraft;
- Management Intern reporting directly to the Vice-President of
Technical Operations;
- materials engineer for a solar panel structure for satellites;
- Principal Investigator (i.e., researcher) for various R&D efforts to
use acoustic emission technology (a non-destructive examination
technique) to better understand strength and integrity issues for
graphite-epoxy composite structures in general, and
composite-overwrapped pressure vessels (such as those used in satellites
and fuel tanks for natural gas vehicles) in particular. I have authored
or co-authored several papers presented at various technical conferences
and/or published in technical journals.
My present assignment focuses on acoustic emission research for
composite fuel tanks of the X33 vehicle. The X33 is a prototype of a
re-usable single-stage-to-orbit unmanned launch vehicle that takes off
vertically (like a rocket) and lands horizontally (like an airplane);
the first launch of the X33 is presently scheduled for mid-1999.
Karyn S. Downs
Staff Engineer, X33 Program
Lockheed Martin Astronautics