Spacecraft Thermal Engineering Intern

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

Benefits offered by this job

Housing stipend

Commuter benefit

Relocation support

Job summary

Varda Space is offering a spring internship in the Thermal team in El Segundo, CA. The role focuses on developing thermal analysis models to predict temperatures for tests and missions, with opportunities to run tests, create post-processing tools, and design thermal hardware for the flight vehicle.

Internships are ideal for students seeking technical and professional growth in a startup aerospace environment, learning from experienced space industry professionals.

Qualifications

• Pursuing a degree in Mechanical, Aerospace, or related Engineering discipline.
• Completed coursework in Heat Transfer, Thermodynamics, Fluid Mechanics, Data processing.
• Experience or coursework using thermal analysis software (Thermal Desktop, Ansys, Star CCM).
• Proficiency in CAD tools (NX, AutoCAD, PTC, or similar).
• Comfortable with data analysis in MATLAB and Python.
• Prior thermal internship, lab, project team, or rigorous school project in heat transfer/thermal.

Responsibilities

• Support thermal vacuum (TVAC) test campaigns including setup, execution, and data collection.
• Contribute to thermal models for spacecraft components and systems using Thermal Desktop and ANSYS.
• Analyze flight and ground test thermal data using Python and MATLAB.
• Design, procure, test, and validate thermal hardware (e.g., MLI blankets, heat straps, thermal interfaces).
• Support integration and test activities related to thermal components and subsystems.
• Collaborate with systems and mechanical teams to ensure thermal requirements are met.

Skills

Thermal analysis

Python

MATLAB

CAD tools

Heat transfer

Thermodynamics

Fluid mechanics

Ansys

Education

Mechanical Engineering

Aerospace Engineering

Tools

Thermal Desktop

ANSYS

Star CCM

NX

AutoCAD

PTC

Job description

Varda Space is offering a spring internship in the Thermal team in El Segundo, CA. The role focuses on developing thermal analysis models to predict temperatures for tests and missions, with opportunities to run tests, create post-processing tools, and design thermal hardware for the flight vehicle.

Internships are ideal for students seeking technical and professional growth in a startup aerospace environment, learning from experienced space industry professionals.