About this role
SpaceX was founded under the belief that a future where humanity is out exploring the stars is fundamentally more exciting. The company is actively developing technologies to enable human life on Mars. The Starship Aerodynamics team predicts aerodynamics and aerothermal environments for booster and ship during all mission phases.
Aerodynamics engineers use engineering models, simulations and wind-tunnel testing to provide accurate predictions ahead of flight validation. They must have a clear understanding of flow fields from subsonic through hypersonic regimes. This knowledge is applied while operating prediction tools.
The team works closely with the GNC team to enable safe landing and recovery of both Starship stages. They also support engineers responsible for vehicle structures during design efforts. Collaboration ensures designs account for physical phenomena.
Engineers review post-flight data against pre-flight estimates to refine models. They interface with other teams, providing inputs and ensuring clear understanding of aerodynamics. This role contributes to mission success through precise analysis.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in an engineering discipline
- Master's degree in aerospace or mechanical engineering
- Experience with lower-order, engineering-level analysis tools
- Proficiency creating watertight 3D models and CFD grids, running CFD on Linux/Unix systems, and post-processing data with Tecplot or ParaView
- Experience with solvers used by NASA for entry vehicles, e.g. FUN3D, Loci/CHEM, DPLR
- Experimental testing experience
- Data processing and analysis in MATLAB or Python
- Strong background in external, compressible fluid dynamics
Responsibilities
- Prepare, mesh, run, and post-process CFD models
- Review post-flight data and compare to pre-flight estimates
- Interface with responsible engineers, providing inputs to their designs and ensuring clear understanding of physical phenomena
- Write code and scripts in a variety of languages with common interfaces for automated workflows
- Conduct wind-tunnel testing to validate aerodynamic predictions
- Develop engineering models for simulations across flight regimes
- Analyze aerothermal environments for booster and ship stages
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