is Hiring Thermal Intern (Winter 2027) in San Francisco

About Astranis

Astranis builds advanced satellites for high orbits, expanding humanity's reach into the solar system. Today Astranis satellites provide dedicated, secure networks to sophisticated customers across the globe, including 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 in 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 top investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, Baillie Gifford, Blackrock, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, and Snowpoint, and employs a team of 500 engineers and entrepreneurs. The company designs, builds, and operates its satellites out of its 153,000 sq. ft. headquarters in Northern California, USA.

Internship Overview

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

As an Intern, you will have the 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 and software that is heading to space on our first satellite, and many 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 with the engineering team to design, evaluate, build, and test satellite hardware and/or software.
• Support design trades that balance performance margins, resource use, risk, cost, and schedule.
• Perform thermal analysis at varying levels of fidelity, from simplified to detailed, on various hardware types 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 to 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.