Manuel Schleiffelder (sole business owner of schleiffelder.systems / schleiffelder.aero)
After the higher technical college in automation engineering, the first self-employed steps were in software engineering and database applications. Along the way, studies in philosophy and German philology were concluded with a master’s degree. A student initiative at the technical university of Vienna for building and launching experimental rockets (http://www.spaceteam.at) re-sparked the passion for aeronautics and space technology. Through numerous projects in the student club, an opportunity emerged to develop a full-size mockup for a lunar lander model for the german GLXP participant “Part-Time Scientists” (the model is currently part of the permanent exhibition at the technical museum in Vienna).
In 2016 the mechatronics company schleiffelder.systems was founded to participate “full-time” in the development of the lunar landing vehicle for the Part-Time Scientists team. Initial tasks included the structural design and building of the ALINA 1 model. Then it eventually became clear to the team that such a mission required a broad effort in systems engineering and project documentation. To speed up development time, off-the-shelf components needed to be sourced according to - not yet determined - requirements. In addition, the preliminary budgets (mass, energy, thermal, and inertia) and a considerable number of interfaces had to be defined. The worldwide publicity of the project allowed the team to work with veterans and experts from science and industry. This setting permitted a fast-paced, hands-on delve into the world of systems engineering.
The main business is contractor work in systems engineering, technical proposals (National, ESA, EU), R&D managment (ESA Projects), and mechanical engineering. However, the company also applied for direct research funding and was awarded the first project through the FFG Take-Off call 2018. DTAP/DTAC is an exploratory project into the viability of collective and cyclic actuation of a rotor- or propeller blade pitch angle via differential torque from a concentric electrodynamic actuator.
Current efforts and outlook coming soon …