Edward Bates

Edward Bates has extensive experience in the engineering field. Edward began their career as a Mechanical Engineering Student at the University of Texas at Dallas in 2016, where they achieved a GPA of 3.973/4.0 and was on the Dean's List. In 2013, they started working with FTC Team 6299 Quad X as an Assistant Project Manager/Hardware Lead, where they managed the hardware and did design CAD work in AutoDesk Inventor. From 2017 to 2018, they were a Mechanical Engineering Intern at Technology Kitchen, where they worked on customer projects such as electrical housings, PCB design, and manufacturing, sheet metal design for high quantity production, product renderings and 3D printed prototypes. In 2019, they founded and became the Chief Engineer of Fluid Impulse (now Bates Propulsion Labs), where they designed, built, and hot fired a liquid propellant 250 lbf thrust GOX/Kerosene rocket engine. From 2018 to 2021, they worked at SpaceX as a Raptor Propulsion Engineer II- Components, where they were the Responsible Engineer of both the cryogenic and hot fuel electromechanical Raptor Throttle valves along with the Main Oxidizer Valve. Currently, they are a Components Engineer at Hermeus, starting in 2022.

Edward Bates has a background in Mechanical Engineering, having attended The University of Texas at Dallas from 2016 to 2020. Prior to that, they attended Vandigrift High School from 2012 to 2016, where they studied FTC Robotics, Engineering, and Computer Science. In May 2016, they obtained a certification in Autodesk Inventor from Certiport - A Pearson VUE Business.