David Buttsworth is a rocket scientist working on spacecraft heat shields and scramjet propulsions systems that have the potential to change the way we launch satellites into space.

He was a postdoctoral researcher working in the Thermofluids Laboratories at Oxford University before joining the University of Southern Queensland as Professor of Thermofluids Engineering. He is currently involved in an international project to better understand the end-of-life de-orbit of spacecraft and the physics of shallow uncontrolled re-entries.

David oversees USQ’s unique testing facility which houses a hypersonic wind tunnel (which he designed and commissioned) capable of generating speeds of Mach 5 and above. His research career has centred around ground testing, including both the use and development of wind tunnels for aerospace research.