Mission Operations Intern

About Dispatch Dispatch is building refurbishable reentry vehicles for in-space manufacturing. Spark-1 is our first vehicle, a 150 kg spacecraft that hosts payloads in orbit and brings them back to Earth. Our vehicles are designed, built, and operated in-house, from spacecraft systems and flight software through reentry and recovery. About This Role Internships at Dispatch are full-time and on-site in San Francisco. Candidates must be actively pursuing an undergraduate or graduate degree. Due to U.S. export control requirements, candidates must be a U.S. person (U.S. citizen or permanent resident). We are unable to sponsor visas. The Mission Operations team is responsible for the concept of operations, procedures, flight rules, and ground tools used to fly Spark-1 from first contact through payload hosting, deorbit, and recovery. Interns at Dispatch work directly on problems that affect upcoming missions. You'll own meaningful technical work and collaborate closely with engineers across GNC, flight software, and avionics as we design, test, and operate Spark-1. Responsibilities

• Own or contribute to the concept of operations, mode timelines, and flight rules for Spark-1 from separation through recovery

• Develop commissioning, nominal, and contingency procedures and rehearse them against the flatsat and simulation

• Build mission operations tools for pass scheduling, command sequencing, telemetry limit checking, trending, and anomaly response

• Perform link budget, ground station coverage, and conjunction assessment analysis for on-orbit operations

• Support ground segment setup, operator training, and licensing coordination with the FCC and NOAA Basic Qualifications

• Currently pursuing a BS, MS, or PhD in aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, computer science, or a related technical field

• Experience through coursework, research, internships, or engineering project teams in one or more areas of spacecraft operations, ground stations, RF communications, orbital mechanics, or flight test

• Familiarity with Python for data handling, scripting, and tool development

• Comfortable writing clear step-by-step procedures and running them under time pressure Preferred Skills and Experience

• At least one year of experience on a technical project team such as CubeSat, Rocket Team, AIAA Design-Build-Fly, Formula SAE, or similar

• Previous experience operating a CubeSat, ground station, UAV, or rocket, or working a launch or flight test day

• Familiarity with pass prediction and astrodynamics tools such as GMAT, Orekit, STK, or Skyfield, and with link budgets

• Experience with telemetry and command systems such as COSMOS or Yamcs, or an amateur radio license

• Strong communication and technical documentation skills Due to U.S. export control requirements, candidates must be a U.S. person (U.S. citizen or permanent resident). We are unable to sponsor visas.