Company Description: Paragon is a leader in ECLSS (Environmental Control and Life Support Systems) and ATCS (Active Thermal Control Systems) for crewed and uncrewed space vehicles. The company was founded 33 years ago in Tucson, AZ. We have 60 employees distributed between 3 sites; Tucson (headquarters), Houston, TX and Denver, CO. We primarily design and manufacture complex, highly reliable systems and invent new technologies for astronaut survival and well-being in space. We are also a manufacturer of space radiators to enable cooling of vehicles.
Primary Responsibilities/ Focus Areas of Internship: The intern will join a Paragon team developing an AI framework supporting autonomous life support system operations for deep space crewed habitats. The project is currently funded by a NASA STTR award and focuses on developing an AI model, a digital twin and collecting training data from an actual (physical) CO2 scrubbing system. The intern will come up to speed on the AI framework under development and contribute to its future advancement along with Paragon and our partners on the project. The student may also be asked to contribute to developing future plans for the AI framework and think creatively on how to best deploy the AI agent to a variety of space habitat subsystems.
Key Tasks/Projects the Intern may be involved with: The intern will first come up to speed on the work performed to date. This project started a year ago and involves a graduate student and professors at Arizona State University in Tempe. Once the student has come up to speed and understands what is being developed, the Principal Investigator for the project (a Paragon engineer) will direct the day-to-day activities of the student. The activities will be related to augmenting the AI and digital twin framework under development.
Required Skills & Level:
- Intermediate/Advanced: Understanding of mathematical models, in particular related to machine learning and AI
- Intermediate/Advanced: Matlab (or similar) programming, manipulation of large datasets in Excel, Matlab or similar
- Beginner/Intermediate: Understanding of thermodynamics, heat transfer, physics, fluid dynamics
Work Location & Hours: Mode is hybrid (some in person, some virtual). The office is at 3400 E Britannia Dr in Tucson, AZ. Intern must coordinate work hours with primary mentor, who will generally work 9am-5pm.