Summary
Michael Wales is an aerospace systems engineer and interdisciplinary researcher with 13 years of experience applying chemical engineering principles to life support, separations, and analytical challenges. Currently designing ECLSS water purification and CO2/trace contaminant removal for Blue Origin's Artemis V Lunar Lander, he blends hands-on lab skills—from GC/ICP analyses and membrane casting to fiber-optic sensor testing—with systems-level engineering for spaceflight. His career spans industry and academia, including postdoctoral work on membranes and catalysis, carbon capture pilot testing, and teaching chemical engineering at the university level. Published across carbon capture, catalysis, membranes, and fiber optics, he is comfortable taking projects from fundamental kinetics and material characterization to prototype testing and field deployment. Notably, he couples deep polymer and membrane transport expertise with practical experience in scrubber design and pilot-scale liquid scrubbing—skills rarely combined in a single ECLSS engineer. Based in San Antonio, he brings a rare mix of analytical rigor, experimental craft, and systems integration experience to life-support and separations problems.
13 years of coding experience
8 years of employment as a software developer
Doctorate (PhD) Chemical Engineering, Doctorate (PhD) Chemical Engineering at Kansas State University
University of California Santa Cruz