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Qualified Technical Services

.NET Software Engineer - VIPER Moon Rover 2d/ 3D Rendering

Qualified Technical Services, Mountain View, California, us, 94039


Work Location:

NASA Ames Research Center - Mountain View, CA

Minimum Citizenship:

U.S. Citizen or Permanent Resident

Clearance:

US Government Public Trust

JOB DESCRIPTION

- .NET Software Engineer - VIPER Moon Rover 2d/ 3D Rendering

NASA is returning to the Moon. The VIPER lunar rover mission (https://www.nasa.gov/feature/new-viper-lunar-rover-to-map-water-ice-on-the-moon) will land a rover at the South Pole of the Moon to map the distribution of water ice in preparation for the first woman and the next man to land on the Moon as part of the Artemis program. VIPER is a challenging mission. Where the rover will land, the terrain is very hilly with craters of all sizes and in all directions. The sun will be just above the horizon, and the hilly terrain will cast long shadows that move slowly as the sun circles the horizon once per month. The rover requires sunlight for power and mission planners on the ground will need to account for the moving shadows as we design the path the rover will take. The Earth will also be near the horizon, and as we plan this path, we must also ensure the radio link for commands and data won't be blocked.

We seek an experienced programmer to join our team to enhance the mission planning and scheduling software by developing and maintaining graphical components that will be used to design the rover’s traversal path and to schedule science and engineering activities. You will be working with a multidisciplinary team of software developers, user interface designers and spacecraft design and operations teams. If you love space, that's even better. This role is based at Ames Research Center but may require occasional travel to support users at other NASA centers around the United States.

Responsibilities

Develop portions of a thick client windows desktop application that supports:

2D rendering of multiple map layers indicating features of the lunar terrain (lighting, temperature, slope and other obstacles ...)

3D rendering of the same map layers on top of terrain

Vector representations of the rover’s path

2D rendering of Gantt chart-based timelines

Apply mathematical methods and algorithms within the tool to integrate timeseries analysis and resource modelling.

Evaluate and mitigate development risks and trade-offs

Collaborate with VIPER Ground Data System personnel to integrate the planning and scheduling software.

REQUIREMENTS

- .NET Software Engineer - VIPER Moon Rover 2d/ 3D Rendering

Education : BS in Computer Science

Year(s) of Experience : 6+ years of .NET Development Experience and 2+ years: OpenGL, DirectX, WebGL or equivalent experience

Qualifications, Skills and Traits:

Demonstrated software skills developing shippable/consumer oriented vs prototyped / research oriented software. Should be able to show prior work or side projects

Proven experience designing and developing testable software, unit and integration test harnesses, and test strategies

Demonstrate problem-solving and technical innovation

Demonstrated skills in:

.NET desktop multi-threaded application development using Visual Studio

C# or F# programming language

Rendering 2D/3D graphics with APIs (OpenGL, DirectX or equivalent)

Using HLSL/GLSL shaders or other vendor specific shader language.

Algorithm development

Effective analytical communication.

Desired Skills:

Experience with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) end-user systems or components (ArcMap, QGIS, OpenLayers, CesiumJS)

Experience with frontend and backend webapp development using React, Electron, Node or similar frameworks

Sensitivity to and familiarity with good user experience design techniques

Experience in robotics software

Strong personal interest in space missions

The Equal Employment Opportunity Policy of the QTS is to provide a fair and equal employment opportunity for all employees and job applicants regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status or disability. QTS hires and promotes individuals solely on the basis of their qualifications for the job to be filled. QTS believes that employees should be provided with a working environment which enables them to be productive and to work to the best of his or her ability. We do not condone or tolerate an atmosphere of intimidation or harassment based on race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status or disability. We expect and require the cooperation of all employees in maintaining a discrimination and harassment-free atmosphere.