Senior Thermal Engineer, Lunar Habitat Systems

Vast; Long Beach (CA); On-site; USD 147,000 - 249,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical coverage

Dental coverage

Vision coverage

Paid time off

401(k) plan

ClassPass credits

Spring Health

Free meals

Snacks & coffee

Job summary

Vast in Long Beach, CA, seeks a Senior Thermal Engineer, Lunar, to own thermal architecture for lunar surface elements. You’ll define radiators, heat pipes, MLI, and survival heating, and drive models to flight readiness while coordinating with NASA deliverables.

Ideal candidates bring 6+ years in spacecraft thermal engineering, hands-on model correlation, and experience with Thermal Desktop, SINDA/FLUINT or ESATAN. Remote work not offered; California on-site role.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Physics or related field.
• 6+ years of spacecraft or aerospace thermal engineering experience.
• Spacecraft thermal control design and analysis experience.
• Built and correlated thermal models for flight hardware.
• Experience with extreme-environment or wide-swing thermal design driving both hot and cold cases.
• Familiar with thermal coatings, MLI, radiators, heat pipes, thermal straps, and heater/thermostat design.
• Comfortable working during early architecture phases.
• Experience across multiple thermal analysis tools (Thermal Desktop, SINDA/FLUINT, ESATAN, or equivalent).

Responsibilities

• Define the thermal control architecture for lunar surface elements.
• Size radiators for diurnal swings, albedo, lunar IR loading, and terrain constraints.
• Own the survival thermal case through lunar night including heater budget and storage.
• Own habitat, airlock, and node thermal control including cabin conditions and humidity.
• Build and maintain detailed system thermal models and validate against tests.
• Manage thermal budgets across launch, cruise, descent, landed day/night, and off-nominal conditions.
• Select coatings, MLI, heat pipes, thermal straps, isolators, heaters, and RTDs.
• Plan and execute TVAC and thermal balance test campaigns and correlate models to data.
• Establish thermal design standards, margins, and NASA deliverables.

Skills

Spacecraft thermal design

Thermal analysis

Extreme-temperature design

Education

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering

Tools

Thermal Desktop

SINDA/FLUINT

ESATAN

Job description

Vast in Long Beach, CA, seeks a Senior Thermal Engineer, Lunar, to own thermal architecture for lunar surface elements. You’ll define radiators, heat pipes, MLI, and survival heating, and drive models to flight readiness while coordinating with NASA deliverables.

Ideal candidates bring 6+ years in spacecraft thermal engineering, hands-on model correlation, and experience with Thermal Desktop, SINDA/FLUINT or ESATAN. Remote work not offered; California on-site role.