Interplanetary Trajectory and Maneuver Design

Interplanetary Trajectory and Maneuver Design Engineer - KinetX

Littleton, CO; Remote

About Intuitive Machines:

Intuitive Machines is an innovative and cutting-edge space company making cislunar space accessible to both public and private customers. Our mission is to further science and exploration, communications, and economic progress from the Earth to the Moon and beyond. With multiple NASA lunar missions in development and additional private missions on our manifest, we pride ourselves in supporting NASA, our customers, and the nation in paving the way to return humans to the surface of the Moon. Our world-class team includes experts in all aspects of spacecraft subsystems design, development, and test, on-orbit operations, and safety.

KinetX Aerospace, a subsidiary of Intuitive Machines, is a trusted engineering services and product company specializing in space navigation, flight dynamics, mission operations, communications, and systems engineering. As the first private company qualified by NASA for deep-space navigation, KinetX has supported some of the world’s most complex planetary missions, including MESSENGER, New Horizons, OSIRIS-REx, Lucy, and LunaH-Map. With a proven record spanning Earth-orbiting, suborbital, commercial, international, and deep-space missions, KinetX provides end-to-end expertise from early mission design through flight operations. Its core capabilities include navigation and mission systems development, optical navigation, orbit determination, maneuver design, trajectory optimization, and constellation design and maintenance. Combined with Intuitive Machines’ spacecraft, network, and mission-operations capabilities, KinetX helps build, connect, and operate resilient space infrastructure for sustained exploration, advanced deep-space constellations, and communications networks.

About the Position:

We are seeking a talented and experienced Trajectory and Maneuver Design Engineer to play a key role on our Flight Dynamics Interplanetary team. This role can be remote or in person at our Littleton, CO office.

Responsibilities:

• Support high profile interplanetary missions such as NASA’s OSIRIS-APEX, Lucy, and DAVINCI, as well as commercial Lunar and Mars programs.
• Conduct trajectory analysis for various spacecraft both in development and currently in operations, including:

• High and low thrust trajectory optimization
• Trajectory trade studies
• Statistical Monte Carlo analysis

• Perform operational maneuver planning, design, and verification as part of the ground navigation team for missions in flight.
• Build ground navigation tools and software for trajectory design, visualization, and analysis.
• Produce technical reports and present results to the wider ground navigation team and project stakeholders.
• Coordinate analyses with, and work alongside, our industry and mission partners.
• Work closely with spacecraft subsystem engineers, scientists, and other stakeholders to understand mission requirements.
• Perform other duties as required.

Requirements:

• Degree in Aerospace Engineering, Astrodynamics, Physics, or related discipline
• Master’s degree with 0-2 years of experience in the field or a related area, OR a bachelor of science degree with minimum of 2-5 years of experience in the field or a related area
• Understanding of interplanetary trajectory design or navigation with expertise in at least one of: astrodynamics, trajectory optimization, orbit determination, flight path control, low thrust mission design, or spacecraft GNC.
• Proficiency in Copernicus, STK, GMAT, EMTG, or other mission design software tools.
• Proficiency in Python program language.
• Experience with Linux operating systems.
• Experience with Microsoft Office products.
• Excellent technical, communications, and interpersonal skills.
• Demonstrated experience in leading work groups and teams.
• Ability to work collaboratively in a multi-disciplinary team environment.
• Must be a US Citizen.

Preferred Requirements: 

• PhD in Aerospace Engineering, Astrodynamics, or related technical domain.
• Significant course study, research, or previous work experience in Astrodynamics (specifically small body dynamics), Statistical Orbit Determination, Linear Control Theory, or Optimization.
• Proficiency with MIRAGE and/or MONTE.
• Experience with the NAIF SPICE toolkit.
• Experience with coding in C/C++, MATLAB, PERL, or FORTRAN languages.
• Experience with Python package management systems such as Conda/mamba and configuration management systems such as git/gitlab.

US EEO Statement:

Intuitive Machines is an Equal Opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, age, or any other characteristic protected by law.