Deployable Structures Test Engineer
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About the role
What you will do:
Own the deployment test plan for the antenna assembly - from test requirements definition through gravity-offload rig design, test execution, and post-test correlation.
Design or oversee design of gravity-offload and support fixtures appropriate for large flexible deployable structures, including friction budget analysis and rig compliance characterization.
Execute deployment tests, capturing deployment force/torque profiles, deployable element tip trajectories, deployment timelines, and deployment-state shape measurements (photogrammetry or equivalent).
Establish ground-to-flight correlation methodology: characterize offload rig artifacts, derive correction factors, and bound residual uncertainty in flight deployment prediction.
Verify deployment repeatability run-to-run and characterize sensitivity to deployment sequencing, temperature, and lubricant state.
Coordinate with the deployment mechanism team to characterize actuator force output and locked-state stiffness/backlash for use as structural dynamics boundary conditions.
Coordinate with structural subsystem teams to characterize subsystem performance and define an integrated testing campaign.
Feed deployment test data into the integrated structural model; participate in model-test correlation reviews with the IAS structures analyst.
Required qualifications:
BS or MS or Ph.D. in Aerospace or Mechanical Engineering, or equivalent.
Experience with deployment or mechanism testing of flight hardware - solar arrays, antennas, booms, or equivalent deployable structures.
Hands-on experience with gravity-offload test setups for large flexible hardware.
Experience with force/torque measurement, deployment kinematics instrumentation, and photogrammetry or optical shape measurement.
Practical understanding of test-to-flight fidelity gaps for deployable structures in 1g.
Preferred qualifications:
Experience with composite boom deployment mechanisms or wrap-rib/coilable boom hardware.
Familiarity with friction and lubrication behavior in space mechanisms across temperature ranges.
Experience contributing to model-test correlation for deployment dynamics simulations.
Knowledge of TVAC deployment testing and the additional instrumentation challenges it introduces.
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