Thermal Engineer - Aerospace Systems

Job Description:

The qualified candidates will be responsible for supporting NASA research involving aerothermodynamics, materials and structures, and propulsion systems analysis. Responsibilities will extend to supporting efforts of other government agencies or their partners on national and international programs. As part of this work, the candidate will interface with NASA affiliates at other Government agencies, national or international organizations, and with Integrated Product Teams comprised of participants from NASA, other government entities, academia, and industry.

Responsibilities:

Perform external flow analyses for determining aerothermodynamic loads on spacecraft, re-entry vehicles, high-speed aircraft, wind tunnel models, and other research platforms.

Perform heat transfer analysis for propulsion systems, payloads, fluid transport, and actively cooled systems.

Apply analysis results to the design of leading edges, thermal protection systems, heat mitigation strategies, and materials selection.

Predict thermal instrumentation responses (thermocouples, heat flux sensors, and radiometers), integrate experimental results with models to characterize thermal environments.

Identify, develop, and design, advanced high-temperature thermal protection materials, with use of additive manufacturing techniques.

Generate assembly/integration and test procedures

Prepare and present technical reports, engineering analyses, and project briefings to management and stakeholders.

Required Qualifications:

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Aerospace or Materials Engineering, Thermal Sciences, Physics, or a relevant technical discipline.

Demonstrated use of Pointwise, Grid Pro, Helden Mesh and Tecplot Strong understanding of thermodynamics, heat transfer, fluid mechanics, and thermal control principle

Experience conducting thermal and power balance of propulsion systems, including heat exchanger design, propellant feed and pressurization systems, and thermal analysis

Experience performing ground tests including those in conventional supersonic/hypersonic aerodynamic and aerothermodynamic wind tunnels, true-enthalpy propulsion blow-down and pulse-type test facilities.

Experience with Python programming or similar.

Familiarity with the Microsoft Office suite of toolsUS citizenship is required; US Persons permissible for some positions.

Desired

Experience:

Experience in performing Structural, Thermal and Optical Performance (STOP) analysis Proficiency with thermal analysis and modeling tools such as Thermal Desktop, SINDA/FLUINT, ANSYS, MATLAB, or equivalent software.

Experience with thermal vacuum testing, environmental testing, and model correlation activities.

Knowledge of spacecraft thermal control systems, aircraft thermal systems, advanced materials, or hypersonic vehicle thermal environments.

Experience in material characterization using Thermal Gravimetric Analysis (TGA), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA), Thermomechanical Analysis (TMA), Laser Flash (LFA), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)
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