Mechanical Engineering Internship/Co-op (Spring 2027)
El Segundo, CAInternPosted 5d ago
About the role
General Astronautics is building autonomous dexterous robotic arms for orbital inspection, repair, and assembly. This internship focuses on designing, building, and testing robotic hardware across mechanism design, CAD, analysis, prototyping, testing, and integration of robotic joints, end effectors, structures, and electromechanical assemblies for space applications.
Responsibilities
- Own a mechanism or subassembly from requirements and trade studies through detailed design, prototyping, and testing
- Develop CAD models and engineering drawings, including material selection, tolerances, and assembly processes
- Perform hand calculations and FEA to evaluate structural margins and validate designs across expected load conditions
- Build prototypes, test fixtures, and instrumentation to evaluate hardware performance
- Write and execute test plans, analyze results, and use the findings to improve your designs
- Support qualification and acceptance testing for parabolic flight and on-orbit demonstration hardware
- Produce drawings, analysis reports, bills of materials, and assembly documentation that others can build from
- Evaluate manufacturability, cost, and design risk, and work with the team to integrate your hardware with the robot, payload, and vehicle
Qualifications
- Enrolled in a bachelor's degree program in engineering, physics, computer science, or math by the start of employment
- GPA of 3.5 or above
- 6+ months of hands-on technical work outside the classroom through research, project teams, personal builds, or prior internships
- Strong fundamentals in prototyping, order-of-magnitude estimation, and hand calculations
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to work alongside engineers, technicians, and the founding team
- Ability to take ownership of technical problems and adapt as priorities change
Skills
Required:Mechanism designCAD modeling and drawingFEA / analysisPrototyping and testingDocumentationManufacturability and cost awareness
Last updated Oct 22, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.
About General Astronautics
Robotics for Space R&D
Robots for microgravity research and manufacturing.
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