Celestial Optical Networks · Celestial Optical Networks

Celestial Optical Communications Engineer

Design space-to-space and space-to-ground optical links that carry classical data and quantum states across telescopes, laser terminals, precision pointing systems and atmospheric channels.

Role mandate

Build the capability for the era ahead.

This team member will combine subject-matter depth, sound judgment and disciplined execution to move the mission from architecture to measurable results.

Responsibilities

Own the Celestial Optical Networks workstream for Celestial Optical Communications Engineer and deliver measurable technical or operating outcomes.
Architect space-to-space and space-to-ground optical service chains from the flight terminal and atmospheric path through the optical ground station, quantum receiver, single-mode fiber backhaul and key consumer.
Close photon, pointing, acquisition, tracking, timing, turbulence, background-radiance, availability and weather-diversity budgets for daylight and nighttime operations.
Integrate telescopes, beacons, gimbals, fast-steering mirrors, adaptive optics, wavefront sensing, spectral filtering, fiber coupling, single-photon detection and classical modems.
Design contact scheduling, pass handover, trusted-node or relay policies, key buffering and failover across multiple satellites, optical ground stations and terrestrial fiber routes.
Build end-to-end verification using laboratory channel emulators, field terminals, hardware-in-the-loop tests and operational rehearsals tied to measurable key and data availability.

Required qualifications

Bachelor's or advanced degree in optical engineering, photonics, aerospace engineering, physics, electrical engineering or equivalent mission experience.
Experience with free-space optical communications, laser terminals, optical ground stations, adaptive optics, precision pointing or satellite communications.
Working knowledge of Gaussian-beam propagation, diffraction, atmospheric absorption/scattering, turbulence, background rejection, Doppler/timing and single-mode fiber coupling.
Ability to perform photon and link budgets from transmitter source statistics through telescope gain, channel loss, pointing loss, receiver efficiency and detector noise.
Practical experience with telescopes, beacon cameras, wavefront sensors, deformable mirrors, fast-steering mirrors, optical filters, fiber injection, APD/SNSPD receivers and timing systems.
Understanding of mission operations, contact plans, laser safety, airspace coordination, weather sensing, configuration control and secure key-service interfaces.

Preferred experience

Experience with satellite QKD, entanglement distribution, optical inter-satellite links or quantum optical ground terminals.
Knowledge of CCSDS optical communications standards and ITU-T satellite QKD network architecture and interworking guidance.
Experience with STK, GMAT, atmospheric channel models, adaptive-optics simulation, Monte Carlo availability analysis and hardware-in-the-loop testing.
Familiarity with carrier fiber operations, data-center interconnect, QKD key managers, HSMs, encryptors and PQC-backed authentication.

Scientific and technical requirements

Physics, mathematics and engineering foundations

Quantum optics and free-space communications: photon statistics, polarization/phase/time-bin encoding, entanglement distribution, radiometry, Gaussian beams, diffraction and background-limited detection.
Atmospheric propagation: absorption, scattering, turbulence, scintillation, beam wander, wavefront error, cloud blockage and daylight sky radiance across elevation angle and weather conditions.
Pointing, acquisition and tracking: orbital geometry, beacon acquisition, coarse/fine steering, jitter isolation, control bandwidth, state estimation and boresight calibration.
Hybrid networking: satellite contact plans, optical ground-station diversity, single-mode fiber backhaul, QKD trusted nodes/key managers, service orchestration, PQC authentication and carrier operations.

Mathematics and working equations

Diffraction-limited divergence θ≈1.22λ/D and Gaussian-beam propagation w(z)=w0√(1+(z/zR)²), zR=πw0²/λ, set spot size and pointing sensitivity.
Photon energy E=hc/λ and photon rate Ṅ=Pr/E connect received optical power to detector counts, background probability, timing gates and secure-key opportunity.
End-to-end transmission η=ηtx·ηspace·ηatm·ηpoint·ηrx·ηcoupling·ηdet; express loss as LdB=−10log10(η) and retain separate margins for weather, aging and alignment.
Fried parameter r0, turbulence profile Cn²(h), scintillation and residual wavefront error drive adaptive-optics design and single-mode fiber coupling efficiency.
QBER and finite-key calculations must be closed per pass because duration, elevation, loss and background vary continuously; aggregate service capacity from usable pass windows and stored-key demand.
Availability combines orbital access, cloud probability, site diversity, acquisition probability, terminal readiness, terrestrial backhaul and key-manager health rather than treating the optical link alone as the service.

Hardware, flight and infrastructure components

Flight laser/quantum source, modulator, attenuator, telescope, beam expander, wavelength reference, beacon, gimbal, fast-steering mirror, fine-guidance sensor and stable optical bench.
Ground telescope, dome, mount, acquisition camera, beacon laser, wavefront sensor, deformable mirrors, tip/tilt stage, narrow spectral/spatial filters and single-mode fiber injection optics.
APD/SNSPD quantum receiver, cryogenic subsystem where required, time tagger, high-stability clock, classical optical modem, synchronization and QKD post-processing engine.
Carrier handoff: standard single-mode fiber, ODF/patching, protected backhaul, QKD node, key manager, HSM, encryptor, SDN/network controller, telemetry and security boundary.

Software, laboratory and analysis tools

STK/GMAT and custom Python/MATLAB for access, elevation, Doppler, link, background and site-diversity modeling; Monte Carlo analysis for pointing and weather availability.
Zemax/CODE V or equivalent optical design, physical-optics propagation, adaptive-optics simulation, control-system modeling and jitter/structural/thermal interface analysis.
Beam profiler, interferometer, wavefront sensor, power meter, optical spectrum analyzer, time-correlated photon counter, single-photon source/detector characterization and fiber-coupling metrology.
Hardware-in-the-loop terminal simulator, channel emulator, timing/GNSS test set, mission scheduler, key-management telemetry and end-to-end service dashboards.

Verification and mission skills

Verify acquisition probability, coarse/fine pointing error, tracking stability, boresight, divergence, polarization fidelity, timing accuracy and Doppler compensation across representative passes.
Measure adaptive-optics residual error and coupling efficiency into single-mode fiber under turbulence, elevation, wind, thermal and daylight-background conditions.
Demonstrate QBER, secret-key rate, classical BER, link reacquisition, pass handover, key buffering and service continuity across multiple ground stations and fiber paths.
Exercise cloud loss, beacon loss, detector saturation, synchronization slips, fiber backhaul failure, site outage, key exhaustion and secure fallback to PQC-authenticated operation.
Maintain traceability to laser safety, airspace coordination, optical communications standards, QKD security assumptions, site operations and cryptographic custody controls.

Authoritative technical references

The hiring sequence will follow operating milestones and project requirements. The position may begin through advisory, consulting or project-based work before moving into a full-time role.

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