Opportunities

SSDS seeks to push the boundaries of spacecraft capabilities through novel applications of modern physics and innovative design. We are currently engaged in several flight and research projects to demonstrate concepts, provide research testbeds, and enhance the state of spaceflight technology. Our team consists of faculty, Ph.D./M.S. candidates, M.Eng. students, and especially undergraduates.

Graduates from our lab have interned, worked, and risen to senior management roles at places like NASA, SpaceX, Draper, Northrop Grumman, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Raytheon, General Dynamics, Blue Origin, Planet Labs, Apple, Facebook, Google and many more!

The application is now open for Spring 2025 Research Positions. See below for the roles we are recruiting for as well as the application link.

1 information session will be held: TBD

Information session slides (Fall 2024) : General SSDS, ChipSat Overview, DeSCENT (Suborbital ChipSat Launch), Alpha (CubeSat + ChipSat-Sail), Sailing to the Stars (ISS Light Sail Deployer)

If you have questions about SSDS or the application, please email Joshua Umansky-Castro (jsu4@cornell.edu). The application process is rolling. Please apply early!

PH.D.

If you are a prospective Ph.D. student, please apply to the Ph.D. Degree program through Cornell’s Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and express interest in SSDS on your application.

M.ENG.

We are actively seeking M.Eng. students for research activities during Spring 2025. Please apply here. Additional projects supervised directly by Prof. Peck can be found here. Please reach out to him individually regarding those.

Project Areas:

  • ChipSats

    • ChipSat Antenna Design - DeSCENT mission (1-2 students, RF experience desired)

    • ChipSat PCB Design - DeSCENT mission (1 student, RF PCB design + microcontroller experience desired)

    • ChipSat Power Circuit Design (1 student, analog circuitry experience desired)

    • ChipSat Ground Station (1-2 students)

  • Sailing to the Stars

    • Controls Engineer (1 student)

undergrad

We are actively seeking undergraduates for research activities during Spring 2025. Please apply here.

Project Areas:

  • ChipSats

    • ChipSat Antenna Design - DeSCENT mission (1-2 students, RF experience desired)

    • ChipSat PCB Design - DeSCENT mission (1 student, RF PCB design + microcontroller experience desired)

    • ChipSat Power Circuit Design (1 student, analog circuitry experience desired)

    • ChipSat Ground Station (1-2 students)

  • Sailing to the Stars

    • Controls Engineer (1 student)

    • Publicity/Outreach (1 student)

    • Webdev (1 student)

DESCRIPTIONS

  • ChipSats (lead: Josh Umansky-Castro, jsu4@cornell.edu)

    1. ChipSats are gram-scale PCBs that can fit in the palm of your hand, but thanks to the miniaturization of electronics, contain all of the essential functionality of a much larger satellite. They’ve been in development at SSDS for the past decade and previous generations of these tiny Spacecraft have flown on the ISS, been deployed into Low Earth Orbit, and have been tested in Earth-based contexts in vineyards and on dairy farms. Currently we are investigating their use as flight computers onboard a free-flying light sail for the Alpha mission, and the potential for swarms of these ChipSats to survive atmospheric entry and disperse during descent (DeSCENT mission). We're looking for students who can take the lead with the following tasks:

      1. ChipSat PCB design (1 student)

      For the DeSCENT mission, the hardware development goal is a fully functioning prototype of the ChipSat PCB. The circuit exists in breadboard form (this should be re-verified), and needs to laid out in Altium Designer. Some updates to the circuit design will likely occur, and consideration of mechanical and RF requirements during the PCB layout is key. Students will have the opportunity to prototype and test their designs. Prior experience designing and programming microcontroller circuits is required.

      2.  ChipSat Antenna Design (1-2 students) 
      We are currently designing ChipSats that transmit via LoRa on 915MHz and receive L1 GPS. The plan is to implement a dual-frequency PCB helical antenna, and integrate a small ceramic chip antenna for the GPS. Simulation in software such as CST Studio or ANSYS HFSS has proven enormously helpful in reducing the number of physical design iterations. We are looking for students to design these antennas, prototype them, and tune the impedance matching circuits to have low return loss at the desired frequency.

      3. ChipSat Power Circuit design (1 student)

      Due to their uniquely small form factor, ChipSats must operate with very limited power constraints. Most ChipSat designs have operated exclusively off of solar panels that can fit onto the PCB, resulting in subtle design challenges to mitigate in-rush current. We are considering adding a battery to this design, which will also require a charging circuit. The student shall verify power consumption on a breadboard prototype, paying close attention to transients, followed by integrating the finalized design on a PCB design. Experience with analog circuity is desired.

      4. ChipSat Ground Station (1-2 students)

      The DeSCENT mission presents a challenge of hearing from 100 ChipSats as they descend from the edge of space to the ground. These ChipSats will be grouped into 10 distinct frequencies on the 915MHz ISM band. Students leading the ground station effort shall select hardware (LoRa receivers, antennas, amplifiers) to collect the ChipSat downlinks and design a visual interface to display the data as it comes in. A map of last known GPS coordinates to recover the ChipSats on the ground may be especially helpful.

  • Sailing to the Stars (lead: Verena Padres, vp257@cornell.edu)

    1. In parallel to Alpha CubeSat, we are also deploying light sails inside the ISS! The goal of this experiment is to better observe the deployment in zero-gravity and determine how the sail deployment mechanism on the CubeSat (single door vs. double door) may affect both sail and deployer stability. Astronauts will record video footage for a livestream back on Earth! Project involves both technical and outreach activities. We are now in the integration and testing phase and are seeking students for the following roles:

    2. Controls Engineer (1 student)

      The light sail deployer spin stabilizes - using a hard drive disk to generate angular momentum! We’ve designed a controller in MATLAB/Simulink, and are in the initial stages of verifying it on hardware. The controls engineer will be responsible for implementing the controller on Arduino code, and designing tests to verify sensor inputs and controller performance on our air bearing test bed. Modeling of our testbed (e.g. dampening due to friction) should be conducted as well to better predict our controller performance in a true zero-g environment after launch. Experience with feedback control and microcontroller programming is desired.

    3. Publicity/Outreach (1-2 students)

      One of the primary goals of the funding associated with this project is outreach! We are partnering with Air and Space museums in New York and the Bay Area, and also hope to conduct workshops here on campus through the Expanding Your Horizons Program. We're looking for students passionate about science communication and graphic design to take the lead with public outreach (website design, mission patch/sticker design, starting our social media presence, promotional videos, educational workshop design, etc.). Experience with graphic design and/or webdev is desired.