Supports guidance, navigation, and control analysis, testing, and flight operations for spacecraft. Responsibilities include developing simulation models, characterizing on-orbit GNC performance, testing real flight hardware, automating analysis and testing, and writing robust flight software. The intern collaborates with software and propulsion engineers while contributing to mission analysis and spacecraft development.
As a Guidance, Navigation, and Control Intern your core responsibility will be to support GNC analysis, test, and flight operations of spacecraft that are flying and to be built. You will work with software engineers, propulsion engineers, and others. You will have the opportunity to contribute to various aspects of spacecraft development, including mission analysis, testing of new flight-hardware, automation of analysis and test, and writing simulation and flight code.
*This internship is 12 weeks long from May/June through August/September 2027
Responsibilities
- Implement and improve simulation models
- Characterize on-orbit performance of GNC functions
- Test GNC functionality on real hardware, supporting Mira and Helios development and delivery
- Write robust, reviewed, and tested code for flight
Minimum Qualifications
- Currently enrolled in a master’s program in Aerospace Engineering, Math, Electrical Engineering, or related field
- Experience with quality Matlab, Python, and/or C++ programming
- Experience in any of the following:
- Simulation
- Closed-loop control design
- Estimation theory
- Orbital mechanics
- Ability to communicate technical challenges, explain rationale and resolve concerns
Preferred Skills and Experience
- Experience in attitude determination and control for spacecraft
- Experience operating spacecraft and reviewing flight data
- Experience working collaboratively on a team with a mix of hardware and software engineers
- Experience working in a vehicle development environment (cars, planes, rockets, satellites, drones, boats, etc)
- Experience using version control, test cases, and other software best practices
Additional Requirements:
- Willing and able to work on-site in Louisville, CO for the duration of the internship
- This position may require overtime hours; interns are eligible for overtime pay.
Additional Information:
Compensation bands are determined by role, level, location, and alignment with market data. Individual level and base pay is determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on job-related skills, education, experience, technical capabilities and internal equity. In addition to base salary, for full-time hires, you may also be eligible for long-term incentives, in the form of stock options, and access to medical, vision & dental coverage as well as access to a 401(k) retirement plan.
To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here.
Impulse Space is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Impulse Space is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.
About
Impulse Space, the in-space transportation company founded by Tom Mueller, is opening access beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO) with its fleet of in-space transportation vehicles. The high-energy Helios vehicle unlocks orbits beyond LEO with its powerful Deneb engine, dropping off payloads in MEO, GEO, heliocentric, lunar, and other planetary orbits. The flight-proven Mira vehicle uses a nontoxic, high-impulse chemical propulsion system to offer orbital transport, constellation deployment, and precision reentry services to customers throughout LEO. Led by a team that delivered the most reliable rockets in history, Impulse provides economical and efficient in-space transportation by reliably and rapidly getting customers where they want to go.
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