Lunar Environment Modeling and Simulation Scientist

Interlune•Seattle, WA

9d•$110,000 - $195,000•Onsite

About The Position

Interlune is a space resources company based in Seattle, WA, focused on providing resources from space to power a clean and sustainable economy on Earth and in space. We are looking for a 'Doer' to join our early-stage team and accelerate humanity’s progress toward an off-world future. Our engineering team combines expert knowledge of geological sciences, mechanical engineering, automation, systems engineering, modeling and simulation, and advanced fabrication to build the infrastructure that will create an in-space economy. To join our small team, you must be agile, willing to learn, and able to take on multiple roles as needed. Interlune’s goal is to develop lunar charging and environmental effects models and translate those results into actionable design requirements, mitigation strategies, and verification approaches.

Requirements

B.S. in Physics, Engineering, Planetary Science, or a related technical field.
1+ years of experience in spacecraft charging, space environment effects, plasma interactions, environmental modeling, or physics-based analysis for aerospace systems (advanced degrees can substitute for years of experience).
Familiarity with the lunar surface environment, including relevant aspects of dust behavior, plasma interactions, and/or exosphere effects on surface charging and differential potentials.
Experience developing or applying physics-based models to support engineering analysis or design.
Fluent in Python or another relevant programming language used for scientific computing and modeling.
Proficient at working both independently to drive research and collaboratively to implement engineering solutions.
Excellent communication skills, with a proven ability to translate complex physics concepts effectively within interdisciplinary engineering and science teams.
U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (i.e. current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum.

Nice To Haves

M.S. or Ph.D. in a relevant field.
Direct experience developing spacecraft charging models, ideally with a specific emphasis on the lunar surface.
Experience supporting hardware design for harsh or space environments.
Familiarity with ESD/EMC, grounding/bonding, or charge mitigation for flight or other high-reliability systems.
Experience defining environmental effects test objectives or supporting verification planning.

Responsibilities

Develop, adapt, and maintain physics-based models of the lunar surface charging environment, including relevant contributions from solar radiation, plasma, dust, triboelectric processes, and vehicle/material interactions; apply established and emerging scientific literature to continuously improve model fidelity.
Predict surface charging, differential potentials, and charging-related hazard cases for rover subsystems and vehicle-level operations.
Conduct parametric studies and sensitivity analyses to characterize how model outputs respond to input uncertainty, identify dominant physics drivers, and prioritize data needs for future validation campaigns.
Use model outputs to support evaluation of active and passive charge mitigation approaches across structures, mechanisms, avionics, power, and sensor systems.
Define analysis assumptions, model limits, uncertainty bounds, and recommended design margins appropriate for flight development; maintain model configuration control and version history to support reproducibility and audit traceability.
Execute the model verification and validation (V&V) plan, including benchmarking against analytical solutions, published experimental data, and analog environment test results, and document confidence levels appropriate for each development phase.
Provide model-based analysis and simulation results to inform verification strategies and charging-related test objectives, in partnership with mechanical, electrical, systems, and test engineers.