Madhav Sonkusare

Junior Engineer · Technology Team

• Develop in-house solvers and engineering tools for thrust-chamber design, engine thermal analysis and nozzle geometry, using Python, MATLAB, NASA CEA and ANSYS Mechanical.
• Work with other teams to take designs through numerical simulation, CAD, manufacturing, quality assessment and testing.
• Joined as a Technology Development Intern in January 2026; Junior Engineer since September 2026.

Deputy Project Manager · Mechanical & Propulsion Lead

• Coordinated a 30-member student rocketry team as Deputy Project Manager; owned the airframe, motor mount and thrust plate, avionics bay and mounts, and integration and launch operations.
• VAYUVEGA flew to 29,432 ft on an AeroTech O5500X and was recovered cleanly: 4th of 21 in the 30K COTS category at IREC 2025, top Indian team overall, and 2nd prize worldwide in the SDL Payload Design Challenge.
• Propulsion lead on AGNI, an in-house KNSB M-class motor: after the first motor failed at 1.63 s, the rebuilt motor completed its burn at 9,202 N·s total impulse and 2,163 N average thrust.
• Designed a reusable threaded-closure research motor (sized to ASME BPVC VIII-1, proof-tested at 1.5 × MEOP) to static-fire nitrate propellants calculated at 40% to 75% higher Isp than KNSB.
• Mentored the junior propulsion team on Kali, the N-class motor that flew thrustMIT's Varuna at IREC 2026.

Research Intern · Advanced Composites Division

• Studied composite materials with negative-thermal-expansion fillers for cryogenic hydrogen fuel tanks.

Hybrid reaction-jet and aerodynamic control of an air-breathing hypersonic vehicle · final-year research

• Simulated control of an air-breathing hypersonic vehicle shared between reaction jets and aerodynamic surfaces in MATLAB and Python; blending reduced peak surface demand where aerodynamic authority was limited.

Natural fibre composites · flax vs hemp epoxy

• Fabricated vacuum-infused flax and hemp laminates, ran the mechanical, thermal, fire and acoustic tests, analysed the data and wrote the papers: two in Sci (MDPI).

Solar sail boom deployer · 3rd place, CAST design challenge 2025

• Concept deployer for four CFRP tape-spring booms driven from one spur gear, with spring-loaded tensioners on each coil.

Wear of rPET and graphene-filled rPET · materials minor

• 18 pin-on-disc tests to ASTM G99 at three loads and three speeds, with optical microscopy of the worn surfaces.