Thermal Intern (Summer 2027)

Astranis; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 39,000 - 44,000; Full time

Job summary

Astranis seeks a Thermal Intern for Summer 2027 to work with the engineering team on design, evaluation, and testing of satellite hardware and thermal systems. This internship offers hands-on experience on real-space hardware and potential full-time paths within a fast-growing space company.

Interns typically work twelve weeks in hourly roles while enrolled at a four-year university. US citizenship or permanent residency is required; some roles may require additional security clearances.

Qualifications

• Pursuing or enrolled in a four-year university (B.S./M.S.) in mechanical, aerospace, or related technical field (e.g., physics or applied math).
• Demonstrated passion for hardware development and hands-on design and testing.
• Experience designing, building, and testing hardware from scratch is valued.
• U.S. Citizenship or Green Card required.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with engineering to design, evaluate, build, and test satellite hardware and/or software.
• Support design trades balancing performance, resources, risk, cost, and schedule.
• Perform varying-fidelity thermal analysis on hardware components and assemblies.
• Design and test thermal solutions such as heaters and heat pipes; select materials.
• Develop integration and assembly processes to ensure thermal design intent is met.
• Plan and execute thermal vacuum testing at component and spacecraft levels.

Skills

Hardware development

Hands-on design

Thermal analysis enthusiasm

Education

Bachelor's/Master's in mechanical/aerospace or related

Tools

CAD

ANSYS

Thermal Desktop

Job description

Astranis builds advanced satellites for high orbits, expanding humanity’s reach into the solar system. Today Astranis satellites provide dedicated, secure networks to highly-sophisticated customers across the globe – large enterprises, sovereign governments, and the US military.

With five satellites on orbit and many more set to launch soon, the company is servicing a backlog of more than $1 billion of commercial contracts. Astranis is the preferred satellite communications partner for buyers with stringent requirements for uptime, data security, network visibility, and customization.

Astranis has raised over $1.2 billion from some of the world’s best investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, Baillie Gifford, Blackrock, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, and Snowpoint, and employs a team of 500 engineers and entrepreneurs. Astranis designs, builds, and operates its satellites out of its 153,000 sq. ft. headquarters in Northern California, USA.

Thermal Intern (Summer 2027)

Internships at Astranis typically last for twelve weeks, and are hourly roles designed for students who are currently enrolled at a four-year university.

As an Intern, you will have an amazing opportunity to work on hard problems — we pride ourselves on giving everyone at Astranis a chance to do meaningful work on complex projects, no matter their seniority. Many past interns have designed and tested hardware/software that is heading to space on our first satellite, and many of them are now full-time employees at Astranis.

If you have already graduated from a four-year university, please apply to be an Associate Engineer.

Role

• Work together with the engineering team to design, evaluate, build, and test satellite hardware and/or software.
• Support design trades that successfully balance performance margins, resource use, risk, cost, and schedule.
• Perform thermal analysis to varying degrees of fidelity (simplified to detailed) on a variety of different types of hardware such as propulsion components, batteries, high powered electronics, RF components, mechanisms, and printed circuit boards (PCBs).
• Design, evaluate, procure and test thermal solutions such as heaters, heat pipes, thermal interface materials, and surface coatings.
• Develop processes and procedures for integration and assembly which ensure thermal design intent is met. Collaborate with the integration and test team in the installation of thermal hardware as needed.
• Plan and run thermal vacuum testing and verification at the component and spacecraft level.

Requirements

• Currently pursuing a B.S. or M.S. in mechanical, aerospace, or equivalent technical degree (e.g. physics or applied math)
• A passion and enthusiasm for hardware development, including working in a fast-paced environment and hands-on design and development
• Demonstrated ability to personally design, build, and test hardware from scratch.
• US Citizenship or Green Card
• Don't meet them all? Not a problem. Please apply even if you do not meet all these criteria.

Bonus

• Experience with CAD
• Experience with analytical software thermal analysis such as ANSYS and Thermal Desktop
• Experience with electronics systems design and packaging
• Experience (projects or previous internships) related to aerospace

The base pay for this position is $29.00 per hour.

Base Hourly Pay

$29 - $29 USD

U.S. Citizenship, Lawful Permanent Residency, or Refugee/Asylee Status Required

(To comply with U.S. Government space technology export regulations, applicant must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the United States, or other protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3))

Our mission and products are built for everyone, regardless of gender, race, creed, or background. We believe in a diverse and inclusive workplace, and we invite all people to join our team and bring their unique perspectives to make us stronger.

As set forth in Astranis’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy,we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

We use Greenhouse’s AI-powered Talent Matching tool to compare your application against our job requirements.