Description

• Provide independent technical assessment of spacecraft, payload, launch vehicle, and integrated transportation-system loads and structural-dynamics analyses, including methods, assumptions, models, inputs, margins, and engineering conclusions.
• Perform and independently assess coupled loads analyses for spacecraft, payloads, launch vehicles, integrated vehicles, and associated flight hardware.
• Develop, review, and evaluate finite element and structural-dynamics models, including mass properties, stiffness, damping, boundary conditions, load paths, interfaces, model fidelity, and sensitivities.
• Perform and assess modal, transient, frequency-response, random-vibration, sine-vibration, acoustic, shock, and other dynamic analyses applicable to launch and spaceflight environments.
• Evaluate quasi-static and inertial acceleration loads (g-loads) and their effects on spacecraft, payloads, structures, components, and interfaces.
• Assess acoustic environments and testing, including overall and frequency-dependent sound pressure levels (SPL), acoustic spectra, and resulting structural responses.
• Evaluate random-vibration environments and test results, including power spectral density (PSD), acceleration response, notching or limiting strategies, test tolerances, and qualification or acceptance criteria.
• Evaluate mechanical shock environments and test results, including shock response spectra (SRS), time-history data, hardware response, and applicable verification criteria.
• Identify critical structural modes, dynamic responses, load paths, interfaces, acceleration levels, sensitivities, and potential failure drivers that may affect vehicle or component design and verification.
• Manipulate and evaluate mass and stiffness matrices obtained from finite element models and other analytical sources.
• Develop and assess reduced-order dynamic models using techniques such as Component Mode Synthesis and Craig-Bampton reduction.
• Support and independently assess structural and environmental testing of flight hardware or flight-like aerospace hardware, including modal surveys, vibration, acoustic, shock, and other dynamic testing.
• Review test requirements, environments, plans, procedures, instrumentation approaches, response limits, acceptance criteria, test results, and reports to determine whether the resulting evidence adequately supports qualification, acceptance, and flight readiness.
• Support pre-test predictions and post-test model correlation, evaluate differences between predicted and measured responses, and determine whether analytical models, assumptions, or verification conclusions require refinement.
• Evaluate test anomalies, exceedances, unexpected responses, and other issues and support assessments of root cause, hardware impact, corrective actions, retest requirements, and flight rationale.
• Identify the analyses and test cases that provide the greatest technical insight, including bounding environments, critical modes, sensitive interfaces, off-nominal conditions, and potential failure modes.
• Develop, review, and provide technical input to test plans, procedures, qualification and acceptance criteria, and technical reports.
• Participate in technical meetings, design reviews, test readiness reviews, test activities, and engineering exchanges with NASA, spacecraft providers, launch providers, contractors, and other engineering organizations.
• Collaborate with structures, mechanical systems, mechanisms, GN&C, propulsion, thermal, mission design, systems engineering, and other technical disciplines to evaluate integrated vehicle behavior and qualification needs.
• Communicate technical findings, assumptions, sensitivities, margins, test results, risks, and recommendations clearly to discipline experts, customers, and multidisciplinary program stakeholders.
• Perform analyses using commercial and internally developed engineering tools and develop or automate analytical processes using Python, MATLAB, C, C++, or similar tools when beneficial.
• Support configuration control, documentation, peer review, and traceability of analytical models, test data, inputs, methods, and results.
• Travel as required to support technical reviews, testing, and other program activities.

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or another applicable engineering discipline from an accredited engineering school.
• At least 10 years of relevant professional experience in loads, structural dynamics, structural testing, finite element analysis, or spacecraft/launch-vehicle structural analysis. Candidates considered at the Subject Matter Expert level will typically have additional directly relevant experience and demonstrated technical depth in aerospace loads and structural dynamics.
• Demonstrated experience performing or independently reviewing dynamic finite element analysis, coupled loads analysis, modal analysis, and structural-dynamics assessments.
• Experience supporting structural or environmental testing of flight hardware or flight-like aerospace hardware, including involvement in test planning, execution, data assessment, and/or analytical correlation.
• Demonstrated knowledge of acoustic loading, random vibration, mechanical shock, quasi-static loads, inertial acceleration environments, and structural response applicable to spacecraft, payloads, launch vehicles, or other aerospace hardware.
• Experience interpreting and evaluating structural-dynamics test and analysis data, including random-vibration PSDs, shock response spectra, sound pressure levels, acceleration response, dynamic amplification, and structural modes.
• Experience assessing complex engineering models and independently evaluating the assumptions, inputs, boundary conditions, methodology, fidelity, sensitivities, and conclusions associated with analytical results.
• Ability to interpret structural-dynamics analysis and test results and translate them into meaningful engineering conclusions, hardware risks, margins, qualification status, and recommendations.
• Experience using structural-dynamics and finite element analysis software such as NASTRAN, FEMAP, or comparable tools.
• Experience using Python, MATLAB, C, C++, or similar engineering-analysis and scripting tools.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the technical judgment necessary to independently evaluate complex engineering issues.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to communicate complex technical matters to multidisciplinary teams, customers, and program leadership.
• Ability to work effectively in a collaborative, multidisciplinary environment while maintaining the independent technical judgment required of an engineering assessment organization.
• Ability to work full-time onsite at Kennedy Space Center and travel as required.

• Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related engineering discipline.
• Experience with spacecraft, launch vehicles, lunar landers, payloads, or other flight hardware subject to launch and spaceflight dynamic environments.
• Demonstrated experience performing coupled loads analyses for spacecraft, launch vehicles, payloads, or other integrated aerospace systems.
• Experience planning, conducting, witnessing, or independently assessing qualification, protoflight, and acceptance testing of flight hardware.
• Experience with modal surveys, sine vibration, random vibration, acoustic testing, mechanical shock testing, and structural model-correlation activities.
• Experience developing or evaluating test input levels, response limits, notching strategies, instrumentation plans, abort criteria, and acceptance criteria.
• Experience evaluating launch acoustic environments, random-vibration PSDs, shock response spectra, acceleration environments, and quasi-static flight loads.
• Experience correlating finite element or structural-dynamics models using measured test data from flight or flight-like hardware.
• Experience supporting spacecraft or launch-vehicle development through multiple lifecycle phases, including design reviews, verification, qualification, acceptance testing, anomaly resolution, and flight readiness.
• Experience using MSC Nastran, Simcenter Nastran, FEMAP, or equivalent finite element and structural-dynamics tools.
• Experience with Component Mode Synthesis, Craig-Bampton reduction, superelements, and reduced-order structural models.
• Experience with multibody or nonlinear dynamic-analysis tools such as LS-DYNA, Adams, or equivalent software.
• Experience developing, customizing, or automating engineering-analysis processes through scripting or software development.
• Experience independently evaluating analyses and test evidence produced by spacecraft providers, launch providers, or other engineering organizations.
• Familiarity with NASA loads, structural-dynamics, test, verification, qualification, and flight-readiness practices and standards.

• The strongest candidates will bring capabilities that extend beyond finite element modeling. They will combine strong analytical depth with practical experience evaluating flight hardware in real test environments.
• They will understand the complete relationship between the predicted flight environment, structural analysis, test requirements, hardware response, model correlation, qualification, and eventual flight decision.
• A successful candidate will be comfortable examining an acoustic, vibration, shock, or structural test approach and asking the questions that matter:
• Is this the correct environment? Is it appropriately bounding without being unnecessarily severe? Are the inputs, instrumentation, limits, and acceptance criteria appropriate? Do the measured responses make physical sense? Does the test evidence actually demonstrate that the hardware is ready for flight?
• The strongest candidates will also understand how loads and structural dynamics affect the integrated spacecraft and mission—including how launch environments, vehicle configuration, payload interfaces, mass properties, stiffness, flexibility, and coupled-system behavior influence what can safely be flown.
• They will be able to engage NASA, spacecraft-provider, launch-provider, and test engineers as technical peers while preserving the independent judgment necessary to provide NASA with objective, technically defensible, risk-informed engineering insight.

PI286980925