Kenji Ozawa

About Kenji Ozawa

I am a Systems Engineer with a B.S. in mechanical engineering and 14 years of experience in the commercial satellite industry. As an engineer with a thermal background I have been involved in all phases of the satellite design and build from white paper studies during proposals through system level vacuum testing to launch/orbit raising. I have strong analytical skills that have been applied to a variety of missions including geosynchronous communication satellites, low earth orbit imagers and interplanetary technical demonstrations. Within my 14 years I have been consistently rated as a lead performer.

Experience

1. Staff Systems Engineer

   Planet

   Feb 2022 — Present

   My current role encompasses both sustaining engineering tasks for our flagship program, SuperDove, as well as early concept development for next generation systems. Sustaining Systems Engineering (SuperDove)-Manage and Drive all ECOs for SuperDove as we enter each build cycle-Work with Supply Chain to triage any technical issues at vendors and find solutions for end-of-life components as the SuperDove program ages-Guide manufacturing in implementing changes and helping to determine path forward for technical issues that arise during the build and making risk assessments for deviations-Continue multi-year quality improvement efforts between Planet and payload vendors to maintain high performing systems-Work with MissionOps to triage on orbit issues to improve uptime and lengthen the median lifetime of the fleetNext Generation R&D-Work with REG to push forward new NOAA and FCC licenses as we modify the fleet, change hardware or design technical demonstrations satellites-Analyze the implications to the bus (power, mass, thermal budgets as well as EE and FSW connections) for proposed new concepts-Own the bus aspects of any tech demo and coordinate with subsystem leads, MFG and Qual to ensure that all launch vehicle and operational requirements are met or characterized-Liaise with MFG and PM to define any changes to AI & T for tech demos sats (which test can be changed, what limits can be relaxed, what new items will need to considered)-Work to devise the CONOPs of new systems and the implications to the satellite design-Work with PLSE to define new payloads based on product requirements and determine how to fit them into a bus as well as scoping the V&V plans-Work with PM to capture cost and schedule estimates for all new proposed designs/ demonstrationsOther-Provide technical support for thermal issues that arise on any SuperDove or Skysat as the legacy thermal engineer-Co-Lead of the API ERG (recently transitioned to new people)

Education

• California State Polytechnic University-Pomona

  Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Mechanical Engineering

  2005 — 2010

Skills

• Testing
• Systems Engineering
• Systems Design
• Thermal Analysis
• Engineering Management
• R&D
• Simulations
• Mechanical Engineering
• Presentations
• Spacecraft
• Thermal System Design
• Business Development
• Satellite
• Requirement Specifications
• Space Systems
• Engineering
• Aerospace
• Heat Transfer
• Satellite Systems Engineering
• Leadership
• Innovation Development
• Unit Testing
• System Testing
• Teamwork
• Spacecraft Design