What are the responsibilities and job description for the GNC Engineer (All Levels) position at Argo Space?
As a GNC Engineer at Argo, you will be a member of the team architecting the full simulation and flight control stack for Argo's refuellable in-space transport vehicles and other space systems. You will help drive the overall spacecraft system architecture, execute vehicle design and higher-level transportation system trade studies, and implement the spacecraft’s attitude determination, trajectory optimization, guidance, and control systems. You will actively contribute to the full life cycle of GNC development at Argo, from early architectural decisions and design through to hardware in the loop testing, on-vehicle functionality, and flight operations. This will include development of Argo’s high fidelity multi-degree of freedom simulation and test framework, supporting Monte Carlo analyses, and the development of the core GNC algorithms that fly our spacecraft.
Responsibilities
- Drive mission performance for Argo’s high-deltaV, refuellable transport spacecraft to make in-space transportation abundant and affordable
- Drive rapid execution and iteration efforts that put our spacecraft in orbit quickly
- Hands-on prototyping, troubleshooting, and testing of simulations, flight algorithms, and hardware in the loop testing
- Develop simulation and modeling tools to support vehicle and GNC trade studies
- Develop novel algorithms for low thrust trajectory optimization, RPOD, and spacecraft attitude control and orbit determination
- Select and size actuators and sensors to support spacecraft attitude control
- Negotiate requirements by having a deep understanding of the company and mission objectives and providing alternative solutions
- Conduct design reviews, test readiness reviews, and flight readiness reviews with a heavy emphasis on technical excellence
Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in relevant engineering or physics discipline
- 3 years of experience designing complex control systems that operate in harsh environments (autonomous vehicles, drones, spacecraft, etc.)
- Capable of maintaining flexibility in direction under changing circumstances
- Track record of delivering novel, excellent technical products
- Demonstrated knowledge in designing, modeling, testing, and flying aerospace guidance, navigation, and control systems
- Understanding of orbital mechanics, modeling and simulation, and software development and modeling skills, particularly in C/C /Python/MATLAB/Simulink
- Proven system engineering and configuration management skills
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
Preferred Qualifications
- Master’s degree in engineering or physics
- Experience with GMAT, AGI STK/Astrogator, FreeFlyer or similar trajectory design, analysis, and optimization tools
- Demonstrated experience with clean sheet GNC, simulation, software development, and conceptual spacecraft design, actuator sizing, and attitude determination and control
- Experience with spacecraft on-orbit operations
- Experience with rendezvous, proximity operations, and docking