Sr. Astrodynamics Engineer

Katalyst Description:

At Katalyst we believe satellite owners and operators shouldn’t be stuck with outdated capabilities as they try to adapt to a rapidly changing environment. We are building the Upgrade Economy where satellites are reconfigured on orbit rapidly, routinely, and regularly. We do this by adding new capabilities to satellites post-launch with in-space servicing, unlocking the ability to respond quickly in an unpredictable environment, open new revenue streams, and dispose of the single-use model. 

You might be a great fit for our team if you want to:

• Accelerate your growth—skip the corporate ladder and forge your own path.
• Embrace challenges and ambiguity; both failure and success are steps to solutions.
• Tackle the toughest problems in the space industry and reshape its future, working side by side on a team that’s bought into the mission.

Katalyst Description:

At Katalyst we believe satellite owners and operators shouldn’t be stuck with outdated capabilities as they try to adapt to a rapidly changing environment. We are building the upgrade economy where satellites are reconfigured on orbit rapidly, routinely, and regularly. We do this by adding new capabilities to satellites post-launch with in-space servicing, giving operators a second chance to maintain their competitive edge. Katalyst’s hardware and software upgrades unlock the ability to respond quickly in an unpredictable environment, open new revenue streams, and dispose of the single-use model. 

We would love to hear from you if you:

Want to see the impact of your work on the space industry

Embrace challenges with a desire for building skills

Thrive finding solutions to ambiguous problems

Role Description:

At Katalyst, we're building critical tracking infrastructure for lunar missions. Our family of software products enable safe and secure operations in, to, and from the cislunar domain. To help us accomplish this mission, we are looking for a passionate Astrodynamics Engineer to join our team.

If you are fascinated by chaotic orbits and love the modeling and simulation of orbital dynamics to solve complex problems, this is your chance to make an impact in an exciting field. You’ll have a pivotal role in shaping our software for a decentralized cislunar tracking network for SSA/SDA that uses dynamic tasking, intelligent prediction, and distributed information sharing. 

You’ll work hand in hand with our product lead, designing and developing technical approaches and conducting feasibility analyses. We are looking for someone who has a good understanding of cislunar astrodynamics, modeling and sim, and navigation filters.

Key Responsibilities:

• Understand and address the risks and challenges of maintaining custody in the cislunar domain
• Decompose product features to development objectives and execution plans
• Build out and test modeling and simulation for cislunar SDA architectures, including cislunar dynamics, sensor modeling, and visualization for performance characterization and developing scenario/test case development
• Design and develop algorithms for orbit determination and state and uncertainty propagation in the context of cislunar astrodynamics and distributed systems
• Collaborate closely with the product lead to align technical solutions with user needs and product vision, conducting feasibility analyses to ensure effective technical development
• Establish and monitor key performance parameters and measures of effectiveness
• Coordinate and support detailed technical development across multiple organizations and disciplines

Qualifications:

Required:

• A technical degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Aerospace or a related field
• Experience in orbital mechanics, mission design, and/or state and uncertainty estimation
• Experience in modeling and simulation
• Excellent problem-solving skills and an intuitive grasp of complex astrodynamics challenges
• Capability to develop and implement modeling and simulation tools
• Experience in navigation filtering, sensor modeling, and Kalman filtering
• Experience with orbit analysis tools, i.e., GMAT, STK, Monte, Copernicus
• Proficiency in software engineering and best practices
• Ability to understand and map user perspectives to technical solutions
• Proven ability to translate ambiguity into action, with excellent communication skills

Desired:

• Experience working with multi-organization and multi-disciplinary development teams
• Experience leading complex technical software development projects
• Data science and machine learning methods
• Strong knowledge in network architectures and sensing related to SDA
• Strong communication skills to effectively convey technical concepts to both technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Proven track record in leading the development of novel cislunar algorithms