Spacecraft Mechanisms Engineer

Power the future of Space at Star Catcher

Star Catcher is building the first energy grid in space to power the orbital economy.

Today's spacecraft must generate all of their own power, which caps what they can do and how long they can operate. But what if they could “plug” into a grid, the way buildings do on Earth? Instead of cables and outlets, Star Catcher is building the technology to wirelessly beam energy to spacecraft’s existing solar panels when and where they need it.
Be an early member of a team building an entirely new energy infrastructure at scale to power the next frontier.

Star Catcher Industries, Inc., located in Jacksonville, Florida
, has an opportunity for a Spacecraft Mechanisims Engineer to support the development of space-to-space power beaming spacecraft and the Star Catcher Network, its orbital power grid. This role will be responsible for design, analysis, and qualification of deployment, release, and pointing mechanisms used on spacecraft, satellites, and other space-related technologies.

• Design deployment mechanisms, including hinges, booms, dampers, and latches, from concept through flight drawings utilizing Autodesk Inventor.
• Develop hold-down and release mechanisms, including release device selection, preload sizing, and separation shock characterization.
• Design pointing gimbals, and define their actuation, range, accuracy, and resolution requirements.
• Perform torque and force margin analysis across worst-case friction, thermal, and end-of-life conditions.
• Analyze deployment kinematics and multibody dynamics to verify sequencing, rates, latch-up, and induced loads on the spacecraft.
• Select bearings, lubricants, and materials for vacuum compatibility, and specify their handling, cleanliness, and out gassing controls.
• Plan and execute mechanism development, qualification, and life test campaigns in 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 of mechanism components.
• Generate and release engineering drawings of parts and assemblies following drafting standards and GD&T. Create and release engineering change orders to document design changes.
• Serve as liaison with fabrication shops in support of technical matters for procurement efforts.
• Write technical documentation supporting the analysis, build, test, and integration of hardware to meet program requirements. Document and present technical data providing justification for design choices.
• Partner with mechanical design, structures, opto-mechanical, avionics, and manufacturing teams to integrate mechanisms into the spacecraft and close interface requirements.

• Bachelor's degree in mechanical or aerospace engineering, or a related field.
• Minimum three years of experience designing spacecraft mechanisms or other relevant industry experience.
• Experience producing CAD models and drawings with GD&T in Autodesk Inventor or equivalent.
• Hands-on experience in a shop, lab, or cleanroom environment supporting hardware build, integration, or environmental testing.
• Experience sizing and selecting precision actuators and drive trains, including stepper or brushless DC motors, harmonic drives, gearheads, and encoders.
• Experience selecting vacuum-compatible bearings and lubricants, and addressing tribology, cold welding, and out gassing 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 per NASA-STD-5017 or equivalent.
• Creative problem-solving skills, with the capability to develop innovative solutions to advanced engineering challenges.
• Willingness to follow company standards and procedures.

• Master's or PhD degree in mechanical or aerospace engineering, or a related field.
• 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.
• 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 effectively communicate and work in a multidisciplinary team setting while…