Aerojet Rocketdyne Coleman Aerospace in Orlando, FL is seeking an Aerospace or Mechanical Engineer to support the deceleration team. This team is responsible for design and analysis of the parachute systems used for air-extraction of our various launch vehicles. These air-extractions are similar in concept to standard military cargo extraction from aircraft like the C-130 or C-17A.

The successful candidate will be asked to perform parachute design activities through 6DOF simulation and loads analysis. This entails designing parachute structures, reefing ratios, riser and mainline lengths, etc. to ensure a successful extraction and descent while ensuring launch vehicle load capabilities are not exceeded. The candidate will be expected to read, understand, update, and maintain a 6 Degree-of-Freedom simulation used to simulate the extraction and descent of AR Coleman’s launch vehicles. This position will require a background in vector mechanics, dynamics, and software configuration control processes. The candidate may also participate in estimating aerodynamic properties and loads through the use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software.

This current opening may be filled at the level posted or at one level higher depending on education and experience.

50% - Activities to include tooling design, tooling procurement and fabrication, and conduct tooling functional checkout. Responsible for tooling design based on efficiency, ease and safety or operation, ease of maintenance and cost of fabrication. Interfaces with suppliers and manufacturing personnel to assure that tool design requirements and intent are met. Coordinate tooling functional checkout with manufacturing disciplines prior to releasing tooling to manufacturing operations.

15% - Parachute Design and Loads Analysis

40% - Parachute/Extraction System Modeling and Simulation updates

35% - Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) of Parachutes and Target System

10% - Oversee field installation and testing of Parachute design

- Minimum of 2 years of professional experience working with parachute deceleration systems or an equivalent combination of experience and education

- B.S. in Aerospace, Mechanical, or equivalent degree

- Prior experience with 6DOF simulation of deceleration systems

- Prior experience with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software

- Ability to program and use MATLAB/Simulink

- Exceptional written and oral communication skills to include report writing, requirements derivation, and documentation, as well as design review presentations

U.S. Citizenship required. Must be able to obtain and maintain a U.S. Security Clearance at the appropriate level (U.S. Citizenship required). Must also be able to satisfy federal government requirements for access to government information, and having dual citizenship may preclude you from being able to meet this requirement.

Desired:

- Experience with programming in C, C++, and Fortran and using MATLAB/Simulink

- Experience working with deceleration systems

- Experience using CANO, CALA, TENSION, and/or LS-DYNA analysis tools

- Working knowledge of aircraft/missile dynamics and control

- Experience with air drops from military aircraft

- Active DoD Secret Clearance