Position Overview:
The Science Unit is responsible for designing and implementing the mission experiment, studying how the radiation and microgravity conditions prevalent in the Low Earth Orbit affect yeast cells at a molecular level. Part of our work includes PCB design, as well as integration and control of both electronic sensors and actuation modules used to run the experiments in-orbit and gather scientific data, respectively.
Minimum Qualifications:
Experience in one or more areas of electrical engineering, such as:
- employing a general programming language (e.g., C/C++)
- microcontrollers (e.g. ARM, AVR, Arduino)
- PCB design (e.g. placement, routing)
Any of the below Qualifications are a plus:
- A strong sense of commitment and responsibility
- Capable of working well in multidisciplinary groups of peers
- Capable of translating quantitative engineering approaches into real-world problem solutions
- Capable of navigating previously unknown fields
- Ability to design and execute a research agenda
- Ability to speak and write in English fluently and idiomatically
About the position:
Join us for an experience that offers personal and professional development, as well as community-building. Electrical Engineers will work closely with Payload Engineers to piece the payload assembly together, be it via PCB design or component interfacing. Additionally, you will contribute in translating all the experimental and operational logic from a theoretical standpoint into spacecraft functionality.
From drafting PCB schematics to developing payload software and building post-experiment data analysis pipelines, you will be responsible for making sure the experiments will be carried out successfully. You will overcome spatial constraints and available power limitations to fit a fully-fledged laboratory inside the 20 x 10 x 10 cm payload vessel. You will explore and tinker with state-of-the-art components, such as a space-grade microscale camera sensor.
You will be given the opportunity to write software with an emphasis on dependability and redundancy, in order to realize the scientific mission despite the harsh conditions in space. Or, implement and optimize a complete compression scheme at an MCU level to meet the need for image data of substantial quantity.
If you additionally want to enrich your knowledge by building a bioinformatics-centered skillset, you may get your feet wet and employ pre-experiment pipelines meant for gene selection and more. You will also have the chance to work on data analysis in a scientific computing language such as R, Python, or Julia.
Responsibilities:
- Participate in cutting edge research to realize a space-biology scientific mission
Note: The Biomolecular Engineer, Electrical Engineer, and Payload Engineer positions are neither mutually exclusive nor destined for one recruit each! Rather, they represent all different types of work performed in the subsystem.
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