GNC Internship: Space Vehicle Controls & Trajectory Design

Varda Space Industries; El Segundo (CA); On-site; USD 38,000 - 53,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Healthcare for interns

Wellness reimbursement

One Medical memberships

Cell phone reimbursement

Relocation support

Lyft/car rental reimbursement

Job summary

Varda Space Industries is seeking a Guidance, Navigation & Controls intern for Spring 2027 in Los Angeles, CA. The role focuses on end-to-end GNC performance for flight vehicles, including 6DOF simulations, sensor integration, and trajectory optimization.

Candidates must be enrolled in an accredited degree program and be on-site in California. You’ll work with an experienced aerospace team in a startup environment, contributing to autonomous attitude control, mission planning, and testing in

Qualifications

• Must be actively enrolled in an accredited undergraduate or graduate degree program.

Responsibilities

• Own or contribute to analysis, algorithms and simulations for reentry vehicles.
• Own integration and testing of GNC sensors, actuators and software in simulation and hardware-in-the-loop environments.
• Design and implement tooling for automated maneuver responsibility and scheduling decisions.
• Design and implementation of autonomous satellite attitude control, collision avoidance, orbital rendezvous, burn planning and atmospheric re-entry algorithms.
• Perform trajectory design, optimization, and dispersion analysis for reentry of a space capsule.

Skills

orbital mechanics

flight dynamics

trajectory design

feedback controls

6DOF simulations

navigation solutions

GNC algorithms

Monte Carlo analysis

C++/Python

Tools

GMAT

POST2

MATLAB/Simulink

Job description

Varda Space Industries is seeking a Guidance, Navigation & Controls intern for Spring 2027 in Los Angeles, CA. The role focuses on end-to-end GNC performance for flight vehicles, including 6DOF simulations, sensor integration, and trajectory optimization.

Candidates must be enrolled in an accredited degree program and be on-site in California. You’ll work with an experienced aerospace team in a startup environment, contributing to autonomous attitude control, mission planning, and testing in