Niko Natsoulas

I'm currently working as a GNC Engineer at Reflect Orbital.

Prior to Reflect I was working a return internship at Vast where I worked on GNC algorithms for Haven Demo and Haven 1.

I have taken leave from my Masters program at CU Boulder, where I worked in Dr. Schaub's AVS Lab, in order to join Reflect.

During my undergrad at Cornell, I worked at Varda, SpaceX, Blue Origin and NASA doing GNC Engineering internships. I've also done some part-time work at SpaceNav, where I worked on Orbit Determination for Space Situational Awareness.

My passion lies in helping awesome spacecraft fly!

I'm based out of Los Angeles, California for the foreseeable future. Reach out if you want to chat, and you can download my resume here, or check out my other platforms!

Work

Autonomous Vehicle Systems Laboratory Graduate Research Assistantship

Lab that researches spacecraft dynamics, formation flying, attitude control, and astrodynamics/flight simulation software.

I support the Basilisk astrodynamics simulation software development.
VAST GNC Engineering Intern

Creating the first commercial space station and competing for NASA's CLD contract.

Developed a ton of GNC flight algorithms and flight simulation software in C++.
Varda GNC Engineering Intern

Space Drugs and Weapons technology. Space Cartel???

Reentry trajectory analysis, state estimation, Flight Safety Analysis, flight simulation software development, ground station tracking tooling.
SpaceX GNC Engineering Intern

Starlink Collision Avoidance GNC software development.

Developed a cool conjunction screening algorithm, the rest of the work was data visualization.
Blue Origin GNC Engineering Intern

Lunar Mk1 Mission Design for Blue Moon lunar lander.

Calendar Sweep Automation software for Trajectory Optimization/Generation.
NASA GNC Engineering Intern

Attitude Control subsystem design for a massive interplanetary transporter mission design (cough cough Mars).

6-DOF simulation and analysis tool development for RCS thruster sizing and placement.
SpaceNav Aerospace Engineer

Orbit Determination for Space Situational Awareness for Space Safety.

Prediction Accuracy analyses comparing different estimation methods and data sources.