Hello there!

My name is An Tran and I'm an aerospace engineering student at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Along with my studies as a student, I took on photography as a way to share how I see the world around me whether that may be on the topic of spaceflight, aviation, motorsports, or anything else that may pique my interests!

In addition to all of this, I have the special privilege of regularly covering spaceflight events as an accredited photojournalist under Space Scout at the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, and many other sites all across the United States.

For my team's articles and photos, check out our work on our website and Twitter!

Throughout my website, you will be able to view all of my latest photos along with some of my best photos in the 'portfolio' tab.

For my engineering portfolio, some of my engineering projects will be showcased in the section below.

To stay up-to-date with whatever I'm doing on the various social platforms, follow me, @the_space_nut, on Twitter and Instagram. 

Thanks for visiting!

I participate in mid and high-power rocketry (MPR and HPR) as a way to learn about the process of designing, building, and flying a rocket from start to finish. 

With mid-power rocketry (MPR), I utilize additive manufacturing as a way to reduce costs and manufacture geometrically complex parts that would be difficult to form by hand or by using more traditional methods. Doing this also allows me to reinforce my 7+ years of experience in using CAD systems such as Solidworks or CATIA.

With my level 1 and level 2 HPR certification from the National Association of Rocketry (NAR), lessons and techniques learned from my experience in MPR are being scaled up to handle faster speeds and stronger loads. Currently, my next project within HPR is to design and launch a minimum diameter rocket to exceed Mach 1.5 and achieve an altitude of around 15,000 feet to study the effects of transonic and supersonic aerodynamics on a rocket. This project will allow me to gain experience in designing flight electronics, data acquisition and interpretation, and composites (fiberglass and carbon fiber).

Under the Experimental Rocket Propulsion Lab (ERPL) at ERAU Daytona Beach, I am involved with project Harpy as the Nozzle Design Team Lead. Project Harpy is a large, flight-capable hybrid rocket motor designed to sustain a 90 second total burn time.

As the Nozzle Design Team Lead, I am responsible for leading my team in performing nozzle calculations and design, finite element analysis (FEA), and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) on the nozzle.

Currently, we are working on manufacturing the nozzle assembly and integrating it with Harpy's other subassembly teams.

Project Stratosphere was a high-altitude balloon project in which I designed, built, and launched various payloads to an altitude of about 75,000 feet to study the conditions within Earth's upper atmosphere.

This project has allowed me to gain experience in the design of flight electronics and software for data acquisition in addition to designing flight hardware to handle the colder temperatures and low atmospheric pressures of the upper atmosphere.

To learn more about unmanned aerial systems, I also participate in RC aviation. This has given me experience in designing, building, and flying fixed-wing aircraft and multi-rotors in addition to reinforcing my experience in CAD and additive manufacturing.