Full-Time
Guidance, Navigation, And Control Engineer Recent Graduate
Katalyst Space Technologies
51-200 employees
Post-launch satellite upgrade services
Compensation Overview
$80k - $105k/yr
Broomfield, CO, USA
In Person
Hands-on work in the office, lab, integration, or test environment is required as needed.
Bachelor's
 Aerospace Engineering (1) |
|---|
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- A Bachelor's degree completed or expected before the start date in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Applied Math, Physics, Robotics, or a closely related technical field is required.
- Strong academic or project-based grounding in rigid-body dynamics, controls, estimation, navigation, orbital mechanics, numerical methods, or related Guidance, Navigation, and Control fundamentals is required.
- Demonstrated hands-on Guidance, Navigation, and Control experience through internships, research, student spacecraft or robotics teams, capstone projects, personal projects, laboratories, or prior employment is required.
- Ability to break down ambiguous Guidance, Navigation, and Control problems, identify assumptions, build appropriate models, make reasonable tradeoffs, and validate work through simulation, test, or data is required.
- Clear written and verbal technical communication is required, including the ability to distinguish personally modeled, coded, analyzed, tuned, tested, or debugged work from work completed by a team.
- Ability to learn new spacecraft dynamics, sensors, actuators, software tools, and mission concepts quickly is required.
- Ability to collaborate with software, avionics, propulsion, mechanical, systems, and mission-operations engineers and accept direct technical feedback is required.
- Ability to comply with applicable export-control requirements and customer-access restrictions is required.
- Contribute to the design, development, analysis, integration, test, and operation of spacecraft Guidance, Navigation, and Control systems.
- Own well-scoped Guidance, Navigation, and Control problems from definition through modeling, algorithm development, simulation, testing, documentation, and closure with support from senior engineers.
- Work hands-on with simulation environments, flight and test data, hardware-in-the-loop or software-in-the-loop tools, sensor and actuator interfaces, and mission-analysis outputs.
- Participate in design reviews, test campaigns, anomaly investigations, and mission-readiness activities, and communicate Guidance, Navigation, and Control performance, risks, assumptions, and decisions.
- Collaborate across software, avionics, mechanical, propulsion, systems, and mission operations to understand interfaces and system-level impacts on Guidance, Navigation, and Control performance.
- Compare analytical models and simulations against test or operational data, identify discrepancies, and iterate toward reliable flight performance.
- Document models, algorithms, assumptions, requirements, interfaces, Monte Carlo results, test results, procedures, and technical decisions so others can review and reproduce the work.
- Take increasing ownership as technical capability grows, progressing from supervised analysis and implementation tasks toward independent feature-, algorithm-, or subsystem-level responsibility.
- Support spacecraft mission execution by translating mission objectives and constraints into Guidance, Navigation, and Control analyses, algorithms, test plans, and operational recommendations.
- Internship, research, co-op, or project experience in spacecraft Guidance, Navigation, and Control, flight dynamics, robotics, autonomous systems, aerospace, defense technology, or another controls- or estimation-intensive environment.
- Experience taking a Guidance, Navigation, and Control model, algorithm, or controller from analysis into simulation or testing and using the results to drive changes.
- Exposure to dynamics, feedback control, state estimation, navigation, orbital mechanics, trajectory analysis, simulation, Monte Carlo analysis, MATLAB/Simulink, Python, or C/C++.
- Willingness to work hands-on in the office, lab, integration, or test environment as required and support occasional extended hours during critical test or mission activities.
Katalyst Space Technologies upgrades satellites after they are launched. It offers a post-launch upgrade service that adds or improves satellite capabilities without the need to launch a new spacecraft. The process centers on an “upgrade economy” where operators pay for modification and capability enhancements, often paired with life-extension work, to extend a satellite’s useful life and keep its features current amid rapid space changes. The company differentiates itself by focusing on post-launch adaptability rather than building new satellites, reducing waste and orbital congestion and enabling testing of new tech on existing platforms. Its clients are established space companies and government agencies seeking to unlock new revenue and access to markets without the high costs and risks of new launches. The goal is to provide a sustainable, cost-effective way for satellite operators to adapt to evolving space environments and maintain competitiveness.
Company Size
51-200
Company Stage
Series A
Total Funding
$12.9M
Headquarters
Flagstaff, Arizona
Founded
2019
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Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- NASA kept LINK alive for rendezvous testing after canceling reboost, preserving flight data value.
- DIU and SDA selected Katalyst on August 13, 2026, broadening defense demand.
- Solar drag is shrinking legacy orbits, creating urgent servicing demand for Hubble-like assets.
What critics are saying
- LINK lost two reaction wheels and abandoned Swift capture on August 20, 2026.
- Swift will reenter later in 2026, making Katalyst’s flagship validation a visible failure.
- If future missions repeat LINK’s attitude-control breakdowns, NASA and DIU will choose rivals.
What makes Katalyst Space Technologies unique
- Katalyst proved rapid spacecraft servicing with NASA’s $30 million Swift mission, launched July 3, 2026.
- Its LINK vehicle targets unprepared satellites, not just cooperative ones, widening serviceable orbit-labor markets.
- Katalyst combines robotic capture, reboost, and deorbit concepts into one repeatable servicing platform.
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Benefits
Health Insurance
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Unlimited Paid Time Off
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Growth & Insights and Company News
6 month growth
↑ 7%1 year growth
↑ 11%2 year growth
↓ -1%Rescue satellite gets close to NASA's doomed telescope, even if it can't save it. MARCIA DUNN Fri, September 4, 2026 at 7:08 AM PDT CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - A private spacecraft that was supposed to supply a lifeline to NASA's Swift Observatory managed to get close to the sinking telescope and even snap photos more than a week after the rescue was abandoned. But the three-armed robotic salvager had to turn away because of low fuel, according to Katalyst Space Technologies, which attempted the daring operation. "We got so close, but so far," Katalyst CEO Ghonhee Lee told The Associated Press this week. Katalyst's Link spacecraft got within 15 kilometers (nine miles) of Swift last weekend, using its own sensors to gather data on the doomed telescope for NASA. The rescue effort had already been called off in August because of Link's own troubles in orbit, but the company wanted the practice for future satellite service calls. Link went into an uncontrollable spin soon after rocketing to Swift's rescue in July. Flight controllers managed to reduce the tumble and stabilize the spacecraft, using up precious fuel. In the end, there wasn't enough fuel remaining to boost the aging Swift to a higher, longer-lasting orbit so it could continue observing the cosmos. Lee blamed Link's problems on the rush to get it flying. The mission was thrown together in just nine months, and engineers often had to grab whatever was available instead of waiting for the preferred parts, he said. NASA paid the company $30 million to carry out the attempt, which was always going to be rushed. Both sides viewed it as an experiment with little to lose, although no one wanted a wreck that would unleash clouds of space debris. "Unfortunately, it wasn't the outcome that we were expecting," NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said following Sunday's launch of the Roman Space Telescope. "But that's exactly the type of missions that we should be flying at NASA. We will learn from that." Isaacman said it makes sense to extend the life of a valuable spacecraft, especially if the cost to salvage it is less than to replace it. That's why the Roman telescope was designed to be refuelable even though it's headed toward an observation point 1 million miles (1.6 million kilometers) away. It's unlikely that Link has enough fuel left to attempt another close approach to Swift, according to Lee. But it can keep exercising its 3-foot (1-meter) arms and provide important data before it reenters and burns up in the atmosphere sometime in the next month, he said. Launched in 2004, Swift has a little more time remaining in orbit, depending on how active the sun is. Intense solar storms of recent years are responsible for bringing the telescope down much sooner than expected. NASA anticipates Swift will plunge through the atmosphere sometime between October and year's end. The space agency resumed observations with the telescope last week after halting them early this year to save precious power. Like Swift, the Hubble Space Telescope's orbit also has been shortened by solar activity. Katalyst is developing a next-generation spacecraft that could boost the 36-year-old Hubble to a longer-lasting orbit. "Hubble does still have a few years of life yet, right? So the good news is this isn't imminent," Lee said. Servicing old telescopes and other satellites used to be "a very, very niche concept," he added, "and we believe it's going to become more and more commonplace." The Associated Press' health and science coverage receives financial support from the AP Fund for Journalism and private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
NASA's Swift telescope resumes science after failed orbital rescue mission. NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory has resumed science operations using two of its three instruments after commercial orbital rescue plans were abandoned. Launched in 2004, the aging space telescope now faces an October deadline as solar activity accelerates atmospheric drag in its low Earth orbit. The failed rescue mission and LINK spacecraft setback. Last year, NASA contracted Katalyst Space Technologies to attempt an orbital rescue mission. The company was awarded a $30 million contract in September to build a robotic servicing spacecraft named LINK, launch it, capture Swift, and boost the observatory into a higher orbit. LINK launched in July aboard a Northrop Grumman Pegasus rocket, but the mission hit severe technical hurdles. Over a weekend in July, the servicing spacecraft experienced attitude control issues that sent it spinning. Preliminary investigations revealed that two of LINK's three reaction wheels stopped working, alongside a partial loss of functionality in its cold gas thruster system. NASA and Katalyst Space announced that LINK would no longer attempt to capture and lift Swift. Discover more Assembling Emergency Survival Kits "We knew this was a high-risk, high-reward mission - a first-of-its kind attempt, developed on an unprecedented timeline driven by the Sun's activity." Shawn Domagal-Goldman, NASA astrophysics director Despite abandoning the orbital boost, the mission is not entirely over. Katalyst still plans to bring LINK near Swift to perform rendezvous and proximity operations. The objective is to test in-space servicing technologies for future missions. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman noted that while the outcome was not what teams worked toward, the attempt remained worthwhile. Solar maximum and rapid orbital decay. Swift's descent is driven by environmental pressures tied to the sun's activity cycle. The observatory orbits in low Earth orbit, where trace layers of the atmosphere create drag that gradually slows satellites and drops their altitude. That solar activity heated Earth's outer atmosphere, causing it to expand farther into space. The resulting atmospheric drag increased friction on Swift, pulling the satellite down much faster than engineers originally anticipated. By July, the observatory descended to 360 kilometers, or 226 miles, above Earth. Models indicate a high probability of reentry before 2027. Discover more Supporting Progressive Advocacy Groups Instruments restart amid borrowed time. To conserve power and reduce drag during the months of waiting for the rescue attempt, mission controllers powered down parts of the observatory. In February, engineers shut down the Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope and the X-ray Telescope. In April, the third instrument, the Burst Alert Telescope, was also paused to allow angle adjustments on Swift's solar panels for maximum drag reduction. Following the cancellation of the boost, operators switched the Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope and the X-ray Telescope back on. The Burst Alert Telescope remains offline for now, though engineers plan to restore its data collection capabilities within the next few weeks. For two decades, Swift served as NASA's multitool for studying the cosmos, pointing rapidly at short-lived outbursts and alerting other facilities. Now, the observatory operates on borrowed time. NASA previously projected that low-drag operations would keep the spacecraft above 185 miles, or 300 kilometers, until October. Once it drops below that threshold, operating the telescope becomes increasingly difficult as descent rates accelerate. Next steps for LINK and the sinking observatory. As Swift gathers final sets of data during its descent, Katalyst works to stabilize the crippled LINK spacecraft. Ground teams initiated a series of burns using gimbaled electric propulsion thrusters to reduce body rates and regain control. "Over the coming days, Katalyst will work to reduce the body rates using the gimbaled electric propulsion thrusters and stabilize the spacecraft. We have already begun this series of burns and are seeing the intended effect." Discover more Choosing Quality Sports Equipment Streamlining Operations Software For Business Exploring Engineering Solutions Katalyst Space, via mission update Katalyst intends to update the control schemes to match the spacecraft's remaining functional hardware. If those recovery efforts succeed, LINK will approach Swift to execute proximity maneuvers and complete a visual survey of potential grab points that have endured 20 years of space exposure. Meanwhile, NASA monitors Swift as it ticks closer to the October boundary.
Katalyst Space and NASA abandon plans for Swift reboost. WASHINGTON - Katalyst Space and NASA have called off plans to use the company's Link spacecraft to raise the orbit of the agency's Swift gamma-ray observatory, citing attitude-control problems with the spacecraft. The company announced Aug. 20 that it concluded, in consultation with NASA, that its Link spacecraft will not attempt to grapple Swift and raise its orbit as originally planned. The company said the decision was based on "ongoing attitude control issues" with Link but did not elaborate. Katalyst launched Link July 3 on a Pegasus XL rocket on a mission to grapple Swift and raise its orbit. While the company initially reported Link was in good condition after launch, it stated July 28 that the spacecraft had entered a multi-axis spin caused by attitude-control problems, including the loss of two of its three reaction wheels. The spacecraft's reaction control system thrusters were only partially working. By early August, the company said it had slowed that spin from 9 degrees per second to 1.47 degrees per second by using the electric thrusters intended to change the spacecraft's orbit. It subsequently reported that controllers installed new flight software on the spacecraft. "We expect the updated configuration to support rendezvous operations and, in the next phase of the mission, attempt to capture and boost NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory," it said in an Aug. 11 post. Link was then expected to reach Swift in late August. Neither Katalyst nor NASA elaborated on what led them to conclude that Link could not safely grapple and boost Swift. Both, though, said that Link would perform rendezvous and proximity operations in the vicinity of Swift in place of a reboost. "Katalyst designed, developed and launched an experimental spacecraft to go after an ambitious mission on an aggressive timeline. We took on this high-risk, high-reward challenge and are proud of the milestones we reached along the way," Ghonhee Lee, chief executive of Katalyst Space Technologies, said in a statement. The announcement comes almost exactly a year after NASA issued study contracts to Katalyst as well as Cambrian Works, partnered with Astroscale U.S., to examine the feasibility of reboosting Swift. The studies came after agency assessments found that Swift's orbit was decaying faster than expected because of increased atmospheric drag, linked to high solar activity, that would cause Swift to reenter as soon as late 2026. In September, NASA awarded Katalyst a $30 million contract to carry out the reboost mission, repurposing a spacecraft the company had been developing for a low Earth orbit demonstration of its satellite servicing technology. Throughout the process, both Katalyst and NASA emphasized that this was a risky mission but one with potential benefits that went beyond simply saving Swift. "We knew this was a high-risk, high-reward mission: a first-of-its-kind attempt, developed on an unprecedented timeline driven by the sun's activity," said Shawn Domagal-Goldman, director of NASA's astrophysics division, in an agency statement. "We were all hoping for more science from Swift. But we knew the takeaways from this mission would be worthwhile either way, and we have gained so much through the series of accomplishments up to this point." "NASA should be willing to move quickly and take smart risks when the potential return is worth it, and that is exactly what we did with this mission," NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in the statement. "The team moved with extraordinary speed to give Swift a chance to carry out more science while advancing capabilities America will need for satellite servicing in the future." The company said it will use the remaining operations of Link to learn lessons that can be incorporated into its future satellite servicing missions. The company was one of three selected by the Space Development Agency and Defense Innovation Unit on Aug. 13 for study contracts to provide deorbiting services. "We have already learned a tremendous amount, and now our job is to turn those lessons into something durable: building a repeatable playbook to inform future rendezvous and proximity operations and satellite servicing," Lee said. The decision to call off the reboost, though, means the end of Swift, a spacecraft launched in 2004 to monitor gamma-ray bursts and other energetic astrophysical phenomena. The spacecraft is now orbiting between 343 and 347 kilometers in altitude, and NASA said it expects the spacecraft to reenter later this year. NASA had effectively ended all science operations of Swift earlier this year as part of efforts to change the spacecraft's operating profile and reduce atmospheric drag, buying more time for the reboost mission. The agency did not say whether it will try to reactivate those instruments for the spacecraft's final few months. "NASA will continue to prioritize finding new options to react rapidly to cosmic events, using current missions to help fill the gap in the meantime," the agency stated.
DOD taps Firefly Aerospace to clear space debris. Published: Aug 17 2026, 12:20 AM EDT The U.S. Department of Defense has awarded Firefly Aerospace a contract to design a satellite deorbit system using its Elytra spacecraft as part of a broader push to clear orbital debris. The agreement, announced August 13, 2026, tasks the Cedar Park, Texas-based company with completing a preliminary design review (PDR) for a mission that would remove end-of-life satellites from orbit. The contract was issued jointly by the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) and the Space Development Agency (SDA), both of which are working to accelerate commercial "Deorbit-as-a-Service" capabilities for low-Earth orbit (LEO) congestion, according to Fool. Once the PDR is complete, Firefly will be eligible to compete for the next phase, which includes launch and on-orbit spacecraft operations. Firefly's mission design calls for launching the Elytra vehicle into LEO, where it would maneuver to a client space object, perform rendezvous and proximity operations, survey the target, and then execute the deorbit service. The company says its proprietary deorbit system integrated on Elytra can handle satellites of vastly different sizes and configurations, and is capable of operating not only in LEO but also in medium Earth orbit (MEO) and geostationary Earth orbit (GEO), Yahoo Finance reported. Firefly CEO Jason Kim said the system was designed to be "highly efficient" and "cost-effective," aligning with a White House order prioritizing orbital debris mitigation. Alongside Firefly, the SDA and DIU have awarded preliminary design and risk-reduction contracts to Katalyst Space and D-Orbit, expanding on earlier work that included a $52.5 million proof-of-concept deal with Starfish Space. After design reviews, the agencies plan to select one contractor for a full on-orbit demonstration of the deorbit capability. Firefly is already under contract with DIU for a separate space domain awareness mission using Elytra, with a targeted launch no earlier than 2027. The company has been integrating and testing core flight structures for that mission as it moves toward spacecraft integration, as per Morning Star.
U.S. defense agencies tap three companies for satellite disposal study. Firefly, D-Orbit USA and Katalyst will compete to show how commercial operators could capture and remove aging spacecraft WASHINGTON - Three companies have been selected to study options for providing satellite deorbiting services to the U.S. government as the Pentagon explores whether disposal of aging spacecraft can be purchased from commercial operators rather than handled through a dedicated government capability. D-Orbit USA, Firefly Aerospace and Katalyst Space received contracts of undisclosed value from the Defense Innovation Unit and the Space Development Agency for a "deorbit-as-a-service" project, the agencies announced. The work is focused on relocating spacecraft that were not designed to be serviced and may be unable to cooperate with an approaching vehicle. "Through this effort, SDA and DIU are developing a scalable commercial capability to safely rendezvous with, capture and de-orbit unprepared or non-cooperative satellites," the agencies said. "The selected companies will begin with preliminary design and risk-reduction activities, after which SDA and DIU will together evaluate their technical maturity, mission approach, schedule and affordability before deciding which solution proceeds to a full on-orbit demonstration." The awards broaden an SDA effort to develop commercial options for disposing of satellites in its low-Earth-orbit architecture. In 2024, the agency awarded feasibility studies to six companies, including Starfish Space, to examine on-demand deorbit services. The three new participants enter the competition with different levels of flight experience and different approaches to the central problem of reaching and moving a spacecraft that may not have been built for docking or servicing. Firefly said Aug. 13 that it proposed using its Elytra maneuvering spacecraft to rendezvous with a client satellite nearing the end of its life, conduct proximity operations and inspection, and carry out the maneuver needed to dispose of it. Elytra has yet to fly its first mission, although the spacecraft incorporates hardware and software derived from Firefly's Blue Ghost lunar program. Katalyst is pursuing perhaps the most directly relevant test of capturing an unprepared spacecraft. Its Link robotic servicing vehicle launched July 3 on NASA's Swift Boost mission and is intended to rendezvous with the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, secure the satellite with robotic arms and raise it to a higher orbit. Link encountered attitude-control problems during commissioning in late July. The company said it uploaded new flight software that restored attitude control using the spacecraft's remaining actuators, allowing preparations for the mission to continue. D-Orbit USA is a startup focused on space logistics services, formed in 2024 as a U.S.-based joint venture between Italy's D-Orbit and a group of American aerospace executives. DIU and SDA have said a viable deorbit service would have to combine several activities into a repeatable operation: getting a servicer into the correct orbit, locating and approaching a target autonomously, determining its attitude and motion, capturing it without generating debris, and supplying enough propulsion to dispose of the combined mass. It would also have to do so at a price that makes commercial procurement attractive.