Postdoctoral Research Associate In Spacecraft Hardware-In-The-Loop Autonomo

at  University of Liverpool

Commitment to Diversity
The University of Liverpool is committed to enhancing workforce diversity. We actively seek to attract, develop, and retain colleagues with diverse backgrounds and perspectives. We welcome applications from all genders/gender identities, Black, Asian, or Minority Ethnic backgrounds, individuals living with a disability, and members of the LGBTQIA+ community.
We are seeking an enthusiastic and motivated individual to work within the School of Engineering, on a project funded by the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) in planetary defence to protect our planet from asteroid hazards. Your role is to deliver and validate an onboard GNC software for autonomous proximity operations around minor celestial bodies. The project is named REMORA - REndezvous Mission for Orbital Reconstruction of Asteroids: a fleet of self-driven CubeSats for tracking and characterising asteroids (£1.9m). The REMORA project will lay the foundation for the development of a ¿space-based early warning system¿ of a swarm of micro satellites each to individually tag asteroids that could hit the Earth (link).
The post supports the award of a Fellowship to Dr Stefania Soldini to develop onboard GNC software for autonomous CubeSats operating in the weak gravity field of asteroids. The work is interdisciplinary and requires combining CubeSats hardware manufacturing/design with experiments (hardware-in-the-loop testing) and numerical software development. You will have a PhD, (or about to obtain), in a relevant area (e.g., engineering, applied maths or physics) and have experience with hardware-in-the loop experiments (e.g. air bearings spacecraft simulator), robotic hardware and electronics design and manufacturing (e.g. use of CubeSat/3D printers and CNC/PCB engraving machine), autonomous navigation (e.g. optical navigation techniques and machine learning techniques), and good knowledge of numerical methods in astrodynamics. Experience in mission operations and knowledge of radio science is desirable. A proven track record on trajectory optimisation and manoeuvre planning would also be advantageous. (Required documents: CV, cover letter and research plan).
This is a fixed-term post available for 30 months.
If you are still awaiting your PhD to be awarded you will be appointed at Grade 6, spine point 30. Upon written confirmation that you have been awarded your PhD, your salary will be increased to Grade 7, spine point 31

Please refer the Job description for details