Honeywell Aerospace Internship - Summer 2023
- Remi Lehmen
- Sep 4
- 2 min read
Updated: Sep 6
In the summer of 2023, I worked as a Systems Mechanical Engineering Intern at Honeywell Aerospace in Glendale, Arizona. I joined the Mechanical Systems Engineering Team for Reaction Wheel Assemblies (RWAs), rotational devices used to control satellite orientation in space. Under the mentorship of an experienced engineer, I spent the summer diving deep into aerospace hardware requirements, design principles, and systems-level thinking—an experience that shaped my interest in mechanical design.
Most of my day-to-day work centered on customer specifications for Reaction Wheel Assemblies. I reviewed and analyzed customer requirements to verify they aligned with Honeywell’s manufacturing capabilities and safety standards. This process strengthened my technical documentation skills and gave me insight into how spacecraft hardware moves from concept to reality.
I also gained exposure to precision manufacturing by working with my mentor to measure tolerances on a batch of RWAs—my first time working hands-on with aerospace hardware. This mix of analysis and hands-on inspection helped me develop a stronger understanding of mechanical systems engineering from multiple perspectives.
In addition to my daily work, all Honeywell interns participated in a summer-long side project. My team was tasked with designing and building a tabletop Control Moment Gyroscope (CMG) testbed for education and outreach purposes, inspired by Honeywell’s full-scale CMG testbed.
As part of the mechanical design sub-team, I created CAD models in Siemens NX for the first time and designed custom motor mounts to support the gyroscopes. I also learned to 3D print parts using a Bambu 3D printer, giving me hands-on experience translating digital models into real products. Balancing the testbed was a critical design challenge, as even small errors could affect performance. By the end of the summer, we successfully built a fully functional tabletop CMG testbed and presented it to Honeywell leadership.
This internship gave me a front-row seat to the aerospace industry. I learned not only the difference between Reaction Wheel Assemblies and Control Moment Gyroscopes, but also how to collaborate on cross-disciplinary teams, present technical work to leadership, and navigate large-scale engineering processes.
I also discovered that my passion lies in design engineering. Working on the CMG testbed showed me how much I enjoy creating and iterating on physical systems, while my main role helped me build skills in technical analysis, documentation, and systems thinking.
Outside of the office, I explored Arizona with a tight-knit group of interns. We hiked the red rocks of Sedona, camped in Flagstaff, and even ventured to Zion National Park, where I hiked both Angel’s Landing and The Narrows. These experiences made the summer memorable in more ways than one and gave me the opportunity to build lasting friendships.
