Interning at Masten Space Systems

Masten Space Systems is a Mojave, California based aerospace R&D startup company that is working to create reliable and reusable rocket vehicles and components. As part of our ongoing propulsion and flight vehicle development projects, we offer full-time internships during three periods per year. Applicants must be able to commit to 3 full months, and may stay longer than that if possible. The dates for the internships are flexible, as we recognize that different schools set their academic dates differently, but the application dates for 2009 (and 2010) are as follows:  

Fall internships run from early September to early December:

  • Resume and application in by midnight July 26 2009 (July 25 2010)
  • Offers out August 4 2009 (August 3 2010)
  • Offers accepted by August 7 2009 (August 6 2010)
 

Spring internships typically run from late January to late April:

  • Resume and application in by December 6 2009 (December 5 2010)
  • Offers out December 15 2009 (December 14 2010)
  • Offers accepted by December 18 2009 (December 17 2010)


Summer internships run from mid-May to mid-August:

  • Resume and application in by midnight April 4 2010
  • Offers out April 13 2010
  • Offers accepted by April 16 2010
 

Working out of our Mojave facilities, you would be directly involved with a variety of interesting projects and would gain experience in working for an innovative space company. You must be a US person (US citizen or permanent resident).

Projects you would be working on include testing state-of-the-art rocket engines, flight testing vertical take off/vertical landing rocket vehicles, fabricating and testing components for future projects, and evaluating new hardware concepts.

We are looking for people who have direct experience building, troubleshooting, and testing actual devices: people who know how to use tools and are not afraid to get their hands dirty. You do not have to have experience on a liquid fueled rocket engine, but we want people who have hardware experience, perhaps working on a car or plane, flying an amateur rocket project, or building a robot. Specific applicable skills include:

  • Mechanical assembly, especially of pressurized systems
  • Machine shop skills, working with tools to make things out of metal or composites
  • The ability to run an experiment, record data, and figure out what the data means
  • Installing and wiring an electrical system, possibly including radio controls or computer programming
  • Experience with Labview, Solidworks, and/or Matlab.
 

You don't have to have all those skills, but having a variety is a plus. You must have a willingness to learn, pay attention to detail, be able to take initiative, and be open to working on a variety of different projects and experiences. Being able to work well with a small team of people is absolutely essential. There is no requirement to be in aerospace engineering; a significant portion of our work is in mechanical and electrical design and fabrication.

While working as an intern at Masten Space, you will be assigned your own project or projects where you will be responsible for the design and execution of a component or subsystem. Previous interns have programmed DAQ systems, tested landing gear, verified structure component strength, and a variety of other tasks.

If you are interested in an exciting internship working on rockets, please fill out the application found at http://masten-space.com/MSS_Employment_App.doc and send it and a copy of your resume to internships@masten-space.com. You may send them in at any time before the deadline, but please clearly state what internship time period you are interested in. You are also welcome to send photos and/or a description of past projects you have worked on. You can see some of what we have been working on recently on our blog, http://masten-space.com/blog/.