Mechanical Engineering Intern, Spring 2027

About Dispatch

Dispatch is building refurbishable reentry vehicles for in-space manufacturing. Spark-1 is our first vehicle, a 150 kg spacecraft that hosts payloads in orbit and brings them back to Earth.

Our vehicles are designed, built, and operated in-house, from spacecraft systems and flight software through reentry and recovery.

About This Role

Internships at Dispatch are in person in San Francisco. This posting is for Spring 2027. The summer position is filled. Candidates must be actively pursuing an undergraduate or graduate degree. Due to U.S. export control requirements, candidates must be a U.S. person (U.S. citizen or permanent resident). We are unable to sponsor visas.

The Mechanical team is responsible for the structure, mechanisms, payload accommodation, and thermal protection system integration that carry Spark-1 through launch, on-orbit operations, reentry, and recovery.

Interns at Dispatch work directly on problems that affect upcoming missions. You'll own meaningful technical work and collaborate closely with engineers across thermal, avionics, and vehicle systems as we design, test, and operate Spark-1.

Responsibilities

• Own or contribute to the design of primary structure, secondary structure, and mechanisms for Spark-1

• Perform structural analysis by hand calculation and FEA for launch, on-orbit, reentry, and recovery load environments

• Produce drawing packages with GD&T and work with machine shops and vendors through fabrication, inspection, and assembly

• Design, build, and test deployable mechanisms, hold-down and release devices, payload accommodation hardware, and test fixtures

• Support environmental testing, including vibration, shock, and thermal vacuum, and mass properties tracking for launch vehicle integration

Basic Qualifications

• Currently pursuing a BS, MS, or PhD in mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, or a related technical field

• Experience through coursework, research, internships, or engineering project teams in one or more areas of structural design, mechanisms, machine design, structural analysis, or hardware fabrication and test

• Familiarity with CAD tools such as SolidWorks, NX, Onshape, or Fusion, and with FEA tools such as Nastran, ANSYS, or Abaqus

• Comfortable taking a design from concept through analysis, drawings, fabrication, and test

Preferred Skills and Experience

• At least one year of experience on a technical project team such as CubeSat, Rocket Team, AIAA Design-Build-Fly, Formula SAE, or similar

• Previous experience designing and building flight or flight-like hardware for spacecraft, launch vehicles, aircraft, or high-performance vehicles

• Familiarity with deployable mechanisms, release devices, composite structures, or high-load environments

• Hands-on machining, composite layup, or assembly experience, and experience with vibration or thermal vacuum testing

• Strong communication and technical documentation skills

Due to U.S. export control requirements, candidates must be a U.S. person (U.S. citizen or permanent resident). We are unable to sponsor visas.