Hello! We are the team that builds FreeFlyer, a space mission design software tool. We’re hiring for a platform engineer to redesign our development infrastructure.
If you’ve ever played Kerbal Space Program, you know that space is hard! In the real world, space mission designers use FreeFlyer to overcome a variety of challenges when it comes to designing a space mission. By combining a state-of-the-art orbit simulation engine, a user-friendly IDE, and a series of interactive data visualizations, FreeFlyer helps our users plan and operate complex space missions. Our users have trusted FreeFlyer to design and operate 225+ space missions over the last 20 years — many of which were NASA missions!
We’re looking for a platform engineer who is interested in using tools like Terraform and Ansible to deploy infrastructure into cloud environments such as AWS. You’ll be spinning up new infrastructure and automations to support cloud-based, cross-platform build/test pipelines. FreeFlyer needs to be tested in a variety of environments, such as networked clusters, virtual machines, and Docker and you’ll take the lead on designing those processes. There are many opportunities to create internal web apps for the team to improve our capabilities and productivity. You’ll also help research novel ways that space mission design software can run in cloud environments like AWS Batch, ECS, and Lambda.
You’ll have the opportunity to develop new skills and have a tremendous impact on a product that is key to future space missions. You’ll have a lot of support and opportunities for collaboration with our two-pizza-sized development team. Our company, a.i. solutions, supports a variety of NASA customers for space mission design and operations, so you’ll have opportunities to hear about the hard work that goes into planning for success space missions, such as NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).
If you think space is cool and are interested in a new set of challenges, let us know! Please don’t hesitate to reach out as we’re very open to considering candidates with different backgrounds.
FreeFlyer (a.i. solutions) | Front-End Engineer | REMOTE (preferably from Portland, OR) or ONSITE (Washington, D.C.) | ai-solutions.com/freeflyer
FreeFlyer is a space mission design tool that's been developed by a small team of engineers over the course of 20 years and has supported 250+ space missions at organizations like NASA. We provide an IDE to our users to develop simulation code, run those simulations, and interact with a variety of data visualizations. Our users leverage FreeFlyer for everything from early space mission design to space mission operations.
Our team is excited to hire a Front-End Engineer with a solid background in React/Vue/Svelte to build a modern front-end user experience for our users (aerospace engineers and "rocket scientists"!). This is an exciting opportunity for anyone who is passionate about space and wants to have a big impact on the future of space mission design. There will be many opportunities to learn about space applications!
To learn more about FreeFlyer, search for FreeFlyer on YouTube[0]. You can also take a look at our online help documentation[1] to learn more about the types of problems FreeFlyer can solve.
a.i. solutions | Frontend Software Developer | Full-time (preferably ONSITE but REMOTE okay for ideal candidate) | Washington, D.C. or Portland, OR | http://ai-solutions.com/freeflyer/
The FreeFlyer team is seeking a motivated Javascript developer to build front-end components for our professional space mission design software product. FreeFlyer is an interactive space mission simulation and analysis tool that features user-friendly UIs for configuring complex simulation parameters, a code editor and scripting language that allows our users full control over their mission simulation, accurate visualizations of the Earth and space environment, and dynamic plots and reports. Our users are space mission designers and analysts at organizations like NASA and other space agencies and companies around the world. FreeFlyer has been used for hundreds of spaceflight missions and is supporting many exciting upcoming missions including NASA’s return of astronauts to the Moon in 2024.
To get an idea of the types of problems FreeFlyer solves for our user, take a look at videos on YouTube. Our team recently published a tutorial [0] show how to model and visualize the Lunar Gateway orbit that will be used in NASA's upcoming mission to send astronauts to the Moon. This tutorial provides a lot of examples of the types of front-end components that will be built with browser-based technologies.
This is a unique opportunity for anyone who is passionate about space, Javascript development, and emerging browser technologies to make a contribution to the future of space mission design. Our users are aerospace engineers working on exciting missions for science, exploration, and global communication and the work you do will help them solve problems more efficiently. Our engineering team has been working together for upwards of 15 years - we’re passionate about the problems we solve and we welcome fresh ideas and new perspective. You’ll have the opportunity to have a big impact on future space mission design along with many opportunities to develop valuable skills to drive your career forward.
Desirable Experience
* Experience collaborating with a UI/UX designer to implement product features
* Experience rendering 2D visualizations with the Canvas API or SVG
* Experience with 3D rendering technologies such as WebGL or WebGPU
* Experience with modern browser APIs such as Web Workers, Message Channels, and Web Sockets
* Experience using Node.js and C/C++ Addons
* Experience with common Javascript development tools such as Webpack, Rollup, Jest, Puppeteer, or Selenium
* Experience with build and test infrastructure services like Jest, Travis CI, CircleCI, or NPM
* Ability to work independently and collaborate with a small team
If you're interested in applying, please send a resume to [email protected]!
FreeFlyer (a.i. solutions) | Multiple (C++ Developer, UI/UX Designer) | Washington, D.C. area or Portland, OR | Full Time
FreeFlyer is a desktop software product used by rocket scientists at organizations like NASA to plan complex space missions. Our product has been used to support hundreds of space missions!
You can see FreeFlyer in action on our YouTube page:
The FreeFlyer team is looking to hire a C++ developer to support us in adding new high-value modeling features to our software. You'll have the opportunity to make some high-impact contributions within a small team of engineers. If you have an interest in physics modeling (especially orbital mechanics!), video game engine design, high-performance 3D visualization, or algorithms/data structures in general, you'll really enjoy the type of work we do! (Note: this position is going to be based out of our HQ ___location in the Washington, D.C. area.)
To learn more about the C++ developer position, please take a look at the job posting:
We're also looking to on-board a UI/UX designer to lead us on a path for developing a modern user experience for our users. We're a small team of developers and support staff that are really excited to work with someone who is passionate for space and has a creative vision for our tool. You'll have the opportunity to interview mission designers at NASA to understand how our tool is used. (Note: this position can be based out of Washington, D.C. or Portland, OR).
To learn more about the UI/UX designer position, please check out the job posting:
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out! [email protected]
P.S., if you're a Javascript developer and are passionate about space, we're going to be posting a job opportunity soon. Shoot me an e-mail if you want to chat more about it!
FreeFlyer, a.i. solutions | C++ Software Engineer, UI/UX Designer | Washington, D.C. area | ONSITE
FreeFlyer is a desktop-based spacecraft mission design software product used by organizations like NASA, the Air Force, international space agencies, and many others to plan and operate complex space missions. FreeFlyer provides an IDE to our users (rocket scientists!) where they can script up their own simulation for analysis then execute the simulation, generating multiple 2D, 3D, and text-based visualizations. We have a small and dedicated team that is needing to grow to keep up with the demand from our growing user base.
The FreeFlyer development team is looking to hire a C++ developer [0] to join the team. As a member of our dev team, you'll have opportunities to design and implement new modeling features, develop new visualization capabilities, provide insight on architectural design, and help bring new technologies to our project. This is a great position for someone with a few years of C++ software development experience and wants to accelerate their career. We're a small, focused development team that solves a lot of interesting challenges, so there's a lot of opportunity to create impact and have career growth.
We're also looking to hire a UI/UX designer [1] to lead us on a new path for envisioning a new user experience. You'll have the creative freedom to teach the team modern best practices for making sure that our users (again, rocket scientists!) love using our product to solve hard problems. You will be working hands-on with our users, including going on-site to NASA facilities to interview users and will be working directly with a front-end Javascript developer for designing new interface components.
In a few months we're going to be hiring for a Javascript developer as well as part of a big modernization effort. Although we don't have a position scoped out now, I'd love to hear from you if you're interested in working on a product like FreeFlyer!
To learn more about FreeFlyer, feel free to check out our YouTube channel [2] for examples of the types of problems FreeFlyer solves. Also, I encourage you to take a look at our online help documentation [3] which outlines the capabilities we support -- check out the "Guides" section!
If you have any questions about these positions, please shoot me an e-mail at [email protected] or strike up a conversation with me on the DC Tech Slack Community (username: stefan).
FreeFlyer is a desktop software product that supports spacecraft mission designers in planning and operating space missions. Our tool is a comprehensive IDE, including its own scripting language, that lets users write complex simulations and generate interactive 3D visualizations and data outputs that are used for solving challenging problems. FreeFlyer users include astrodynamics specialists at NASA, the Air Force, the Japanese space agency (JAXA), and many others.
Our team is looking to hire a C++ software engineer to help us continue building an amazing product to keep up with the growing demand for organizations who are planning future space missions. You'll have opportunities to design new modeling features, add new visualization capabilities, and bring new technology to our architecture. Working on-site near Goddard Space Flight Center gives you the chance to collaborate with subject matter experts working on active NASA missions.
If you consider yourself a space nerd, want to solve challenging problems, and have an opportunity to grow your technical career, please don't hesitate to reach out and apply! You can reach out to me personally at [email protected].
(This job requires U.S. Citizenship. No recruiters, please.)
Have you considered rendering the WebGL scene to an Offscreen Canvas in a Web Worker? You lose the ability to process PointerEvents (since Web Workers can't access the DOM), but you can serialize PointerEvent data and send it to the Web Worker via postMessage. That does introduce a bit of latency (~0.5 ms) that might cause some jank since PointerEvents are emitted ~8ms. It's something I'm playing around with.
Wasn’t aware of FreeFlyer yet, most extensive set of visualisations I have seen so far. Some of these I was dreaming about already implementing cool bit scary to see a team who has done so already :)
I am using multiple webworkers for data handling aspects and orbit propagation. haven’t looked into rendering the webgl scene in a webworker yet, what would you say the main advantage is?
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26304057