Spacecraft Mechanisms Engineer

Star Catcher•Jacksonville, FL

20h•Onsite

About The Position

Star Catcher Industries, Inc., located in Jacksonville, Florida, is hiring a Spacecraft Mechanisms Engineer to support development of spacecraft for space-to-space power beaming and the Star Catcher Network, an orbital power grid. The company is building technology to wirelessly beam energy to spacecraft’s existing solar panels, enabling an orbital energy infrastructure. The engineer will design, analyze, and qualify deployment, release, and pointing mechanisms used on spacecraft, satellites, and other space-related technologies. The role covers mechanism development from concept through flight drawings, testing, qualification, and integration, and involves collaboration with mechanical design, structures, opto-mechanical, avionics, and manufacturing teams. The position also supports fabrication and procurement, technical documentation, and justification of design decisions.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in mechanical or aerospace engineering, or a related field.
At least three years of experience designing spacecraft mechanisms or other relevant industry experience.
Experience producing CAD models and drawings with GD&T using Autodesk Inventor or equivalent.
Hands-on experience in a shop, lab, or cleanroom supporting hardware build, integration, or environmental testing.
Experience sizing and selecting precision actuators and drivetrains, including stepper or brushless DC motors, harmonic drives, gearheads, and encoders.
Experience selecting vacuum-compatible bearings and lubricants and addressing tribology, cold welding, and outgassing in flight mechanism design.
Experience with hold-down and release devices, including non-explosive actuators or pyrotechnic devices.
Experience performing torque and force margin analysis of spacecraft mechanisms according to NASA-STD-5017 or equivalent.
Creative problem-solving skills and the ability to develop innovative solutions to advanced engineering challenges.
Willingness to follow company standards and procedures.

Nice To Haves

Master’s or PhD degree in mechanical or aerospace engineering, or a related field.
Experience with multibody dynamics or kinematic simulation of deployment events.
Experience with deployable structures such as booms, reflectors, or solar arrays, and the gravity-offload techniques used to test them.
Experience with structural analysis of mechanism components in Ansys Mechanical.
Experience with pointing or gimbal mechanisms and their interaction with attitude control and pointing jitter.
Familiarity with regulations and standards relevant to space missions and operations.
Ability to communicate and work effectively in a multidisciplinary team while prioritizing tasks, multiple projects, and personnel.

Responsibilities

Design deployment mechanisms—including hinges, booms, dampers, and latches—from concept through flight drawings using Autodesk Inventor.
Develop hold-down and release mechanisms, including selecting release devices, sizing preloads, and characterizing separation shock.
Design pointing gimbals and define actuation, range, accuracy, and resolution requirements.
Perform torque and force margin analysis under worst-case friction, thermal, and end-of-life conditions.
Analyze deployment kinematics and multibody dynamics to verify sequencing, rates, latch-up, and spacecraft-induced loads.
Select vacuum-compatible bearings, lubricants, and materials, and specify handling, cleanliness, and outgassing controls.
Plan and execute mechanism development, qualification, and life-test campaigns under ambient and thermal-vacuum conditions.
Create test fixtures and gravity-offload setups for deployment testing.
Support fault detection, isolation, and recovery (FDIR) analysis and implementation for mechanism components.
Generate and release engineering drawings of parts and assemblies in accordance with drafting standards and GD&T.
Create and release engineering change orders documenting design changes.
Liaise with fabrication shops on technical matters supporting procurement efforts.
Write technical documentation supporting hardware analysis, build, test, and integration to meet program requirements.
Document and present technical data to justify design choices.
Collaborate with mechanical design, structures, opto-mechanical, avionics, and manufacturing teams to integrate mechanisms into the spacecraft and close interface requirements.