Thermal Analyst (Mid-Level) Houston, TX
About the Position:Intuitive Machines is seeking a skilled Thermal Analysis Engineer to join our expanding team in Houston. We are actively building the next generation of spacecraft for lunar missions, and we need your talent to design, analyze, and test the thermal systems that will make these historic missions successful.
Responsibilities:- Thermal Modeling & Analysis: Develop, maintain, and run high-fidelity thermal models (using Thermal Desktop) to predict steady-state and transient temperature distributions across all mission phases (Launch, LV Separation, transit, lunar orbit, and surface operations).
- Thermal Design: Design active and passive thermal control systems (ATCS/PTCS). Select and procure thermal hardware like thermal tapes, MLI, heaters, and thermal interface materials (TIMs).
- Testing & Model Correlation: Support thermal verification and validation activities, including test planning, thermal vacuum (TVAC) testing, and correlating test data back to analytical models.
- Generate TPS Documentation: Produce the vehicle's Thermal Protection System (TPS) document, providing clear, actionable instructions for the Assembly, Integration, and Testing (AIT) team to accurately apply thermal solutions to the flight hardware.
- Prepare Design Review Packages: Summarize complex analysis data, generate clear presentation decks, and present technical results during design review meetings to defend findings and align stakeholders.
- Cross-Functional Data Gathering: Collaborate proactively with structures, propulsion, avionics, and power teams to identify thermal requirements and collect the necessary environments, power dissipation profiles, and physical geometries required to build comprehensive thermal models.
Requirements:- Education: Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related technical field.
- Experience: 3 - 7 years specifically dedicated to spacecraft thermal analysis.
- Software: Proven hands-on proficiency with Thermal Desktop.
- Technical Knowledge: Strong core understanding of heat transfer principles and thermodynamics
Preferred Requirements: - Experience with ANSYS Mechanical.
- Experience with FloCAD.
