Guidance Navigation & Control (GNC) Engineer
The Role
As a GNC engineer, you will be a core driver of the GNC architecture for internally developed actuators that support the overall platform capabilities. You will execute detailed trade studies to find new and novel ways to implement navigation and control of K2 mechanisms. In the first 3 months, you will support the development of the control infrastructure, from discrete filter design in the time domain to thorough analysis in the frequency domain. In the first 6 months, you will own and execute the Verification and Validation plan for mechanism GNC, driving the system to flight readiness via a robust and thorough analysis of performance in both nominal and off nominal environments. This push for flight readiness will motivate thorough analysis, leading to updates to both the GNC stack, the K2 6-DOF simulation, HOOTL (Hardware Out Of the Loop), and HITL (Hardware In The Loop). The expectation is that all GNC team members commit code to the 6-DOF sim as well as owning a portion of the GNC flight software.
In the first year, you will support launch and on orbit operations of the first full stacked demonstration of 3 K2 spacecraft buses – aka the Trinity mission. In parallel, you will support the block 2 upgrades of the GNC stack and 6-DOF sim, taking lessons learned from on orbit operations to increase the fidelity of the simulation, the vehicle performance and mechanism performance of the GNC stack.
Responsibilities
Work with other engineering leads to develop and validate a novel high level vehicle architecture
Develop novel algorithms for precise pointing of very large, flexible structures in earth orbit and beyond
Develop novel algorithms for precise pointing of mechanisms, effectively characterizing and rejecting disturbances and jitter.
Develop novel slewing algorithms of very large, flexible structures in earth orbit and beyond
Develop simulation and modeling tools to support vehicle and GNC trade studies. This includes mission design, controls analysis, and 6-DOF simulation development.
Contribute to building the GNC organization by recruiting, hiring, and mentoring other engineers
Qualifications
Experience with GNC actuator or sensor sizing, selection, and system design
Experience with implementing control and/or estimation algorithms
Experience with verification and validation of GNC flight software in an integrated environment, leveraging 6-DOF simulation and HITL testing.
Experience with Python, Julia, C/C++, or Matlab for algorithm development, implementation, and simulation
Nice to Have
Experience with early-stage conceptual design, i.e. “clean sheet” design work
Experience with control algorithm development
Experience with reaction wheel, control moment gyroscope, motor or thruster sizing and algorithm implementation
Experience with navigation, specifically Extended Kalman Filters
Experience with trajectory analysis, modeling, and mission design
Compensation and Benefits:
Base salary range for this role is $110,000 - $200,000 + equity in the company
Salary will be based on several factors including, but not limited to: knowledge and skills, education, and experience level
Comprehensive benefits package including paid time off, medical/dental/vision coverage, life insurance, paid parental leave, and many other perks