Adam Ctverak

HyperWatch, San Francisco. Co-founder. Led electro-mechanical design and flight-test qualification.

Redundant flight-termination subsystem on HyperWatch’s high-altitude balloon platform. The platform provides IR search-and-track for hypersonic missile defense.

Problem: FAA Part 101 §101.35 required two independent payload cut-down devices. No COTS unit fit the mass, reliability, or integration envelope.

Built: 3D-printed burn-wire mechanism. Nichrome element severs a braided Spectra (UHMWPE) tether on command. 2S LiPo direct-drive, sized from a CV/CC buck characterization rig. Active IMU-based de-spin eliminates wire winding. Concentric geometry, minimal wire slack. Custom pull-test fixture.

Pull-tested to 13.25 kg, >2× max flight load. Four flight campaigns. Zero failures.

Company: $80K DIU award, $250,000 from venture capital, Founders Inc Blueprint (Fall 2025).

Tool: hypersonic-trajectory-simulator, balloon-vs-ground sensor trade studies on representative boost-glide trajectories.
Origin: Stanford H4D, DIU Summer Fellowship 2024.

Astroport Space Technologies, San Antonio, TX. NASA STTR. Lab intern. Led the temperature-strength correlation study on CSM-LHT-1 lunar simulant.

Problem: Autonomous lunar landing pad construction needs an in-situ material that beats concrete on strength. No published map between thermal-cycle parameters and compressive strength for CSM-LHT-1.

Built: Induction furnace melts on 75 g CSM-LHT-1 charges in graphite crucibles. Test matrix spanned 8–33°C/min ramps, 1150–1310°C peaks, quench vs 10°C/min anneal. Custom retention fixtures (modified ASTM C1231) with neoprene pads to align cores. Uniaxial compression per ASTM C39 on a 100 kN MTS at 0.014 mm/s. Helium pycnometer density at UTSA HAMsTER lab.

43 MPa mean compressive strength, 98 MPa peak. Bricks ran 54% stronger than NASA Launch Pad 39B concrete. Closed porosity 0.68–2.55%. Primary failure mode: longitudinal splitting. First-author poster at Texas Area Planetary Science (TAPS) 2023.

Poster: TAPS 2023 [pdf].
Coverage: LPI / USRA feature on TAPS 2023.

Florida Institute of Technology, Senior Design (AEE 4292). Project Manager, 9-person team. Owned schedule, budget, and test-plan review.

Autonomously deployable hybrid inflatable lunar habitat, sized to fit the SLS Block 2 cargo payload envelope. Full-cycle capstone from Statement of Work through scaled engineering-model demonstration.

Problem: Artemis-class missions need habitats that ship volume-efficiently on SLS and deploy autonomously on the lunar surface. Rigid habitats waste payload volume; collapsible structures buy more surface infrastructure per flight.

Built: 8-arm radial structure in 30x30 T-slot aluminum extrusions with double-shear butterfly joints, PVC/stainless center column, 8 folding baseplate pairs. Primary deployment: motor-driven worm drive in the center column pulls tension cables through the upper T-bar track to lower the arms. Secondary deployment: spring-loaded T-pins release the baseplates on ground contact. Arduino-based ECLSS with BME280 sensing and solenoid-driven pressurization. Full Ansys static structural FEA on arms, joints, and baseplates. 2.2:1 expanded-to-collapsed volume ratio.

PDR and CDR passed. Scaled engineering model fabricated and fully deployed on camera at the Spring 2024 Florida Tech Senior Design Showcase, $2,000 total budget. Design pitched to and evaluated by Blue Origin engineers.