NICHOLAS GREGORY HEINSOHN
6580 Ocaso Dr., Castle Rock, CO 80108
(720) 939-3382
gheinsohn@q.com
Senior Program Management/Senior Systems Engineering/Spacecraft Design
30 years of Systems Engineering and Program Management Experience
Results-driven Program Manager with extensive experience leading the programmatic and technical
aspects of a variety of programs. Systems Engineering leadership experience on complex systems
including class A and interplanetary missions.
Deep Space Systems Inc.
Senior Systems Engineer
8/10 to Present
Provide senior systems engineering guidance and mentoring to the Assembly, Test, and Launch Operations
Team for the Orion Program and Juno spacecraft mission to Jupiter.
MicroSat Systems/Sierra Nevada
2/02 to 8/10
Director of Satellites
1/08 to 8/10
Ultimately responsible for the execution of all government satellite programs, including both programmatic
and technical leadership, as well as staff management and career development responsibility for project
managers, engineers, technicians and support personnel assigned to these programs
Program Manager & Chief Systems Engineer
6/04 to 12/07
Plan, direct, control and provide overall technical conscience for the “Demonstration and Science
Experiment Host Spacecraft Bus,” (DSX) a program requiring complete reconfiguration of the spacecraft
and several cost and schedule re-baselines; lead the team through successful preliminary and critical
design reviews - both of which received an “Excellent” rating by the review boards – while keeping the
program ahead of schedule and maintaining a healthy management reserve.
The DSX program was singled out by the Director of AFRL Space Vehicles Division as a model AFRL
program and has been commended several times for responsiveness and creativity in solving technical
issues.
Proposal Manager
6/02 to 8/10
Direct effort for several small spacecraft and technology development proposals including: “NASA RSDO
Catalog,” “Team Encounter Solar Sail,” “Consumable Structures,” “New Millennium ST-8 Bus,” “Canadian
Space Agency’s Smallsat,” “TacSat-3” and “ORBCOMM Demonstration & Quick Launch Mission.”
Senior Systems Engineer
2/02 to 8/10
Provide systems engineering design, support spacecraft design efforts and mission architecture studies.
Primary areas of focus: spacecraft design, requirements decomposition and allocation, fault protection
schemes, management of key resources, mission planning and risk management. Developed a proprietary
spacecraft design tool enabling a single systems engineer to produce a complete conceptual design based
on top level mission requirements including component selection and critical system sizing such as solar
arrays, batteries and propulsion.
Lockheed Martin Astronautics
Spacecraft Systems Engineer & Subsystem Lead
June 1983 to January 2002
4/00 to 1/02
Provided systems engineering oversight to the integration and test team including on-console responsibility
through launch of Mars Odyssey Spacecraft. Led and directed a multi-skilled team of subsystem engineers
during mission operations including support for day-to-day flight operations and strategic planning for
mission critical events. Provided spacecraft system designs in support of advanced systems conceptual
studies and proposals, authored “Systems Engineering” and “Integration & Test” section of technical
proposals, and led a study to develop a strategic plan for next generation avionics systems.
Spacecraft System Design Lead & Product Integrity Engineer
12/96 to 3/00
System Design Lead for the Mars Surveyor Project responsible for technical integrity and success of the
2001 Mars Lander. Led the development of mission and system requirements, developed spacecraft design
and coordinated system level trade studies to optimize limited resources and provided comprehensive and
exhaustive system level test program and ultimately ensured the spacecraft design was robust and met all
mission requirements.
Nicholas Gregory HeinsohnPage 2
Payload Accommodation Engineer
10/93 to 11/96
Solely responsible for the integration and accommodation of six science payloads on the Mars Global
Surveyor spacecraft, performed trade studies and supported conceptual designs to maximize science
return, authored the Interface Control Documents and all Integration Test Procedures and responsible for
verification of all interfaces and functional performance of the science instruments.
Senior Group Engineer
8/92 to 6/93
Developed and controlled the system budgets, (i. e. mass, power, data rate, CPU utilization), for Earth
Observing System Spacecraft, identified and assessed component, subsystem and system issues,
developed mitigation strategies to assure a low risk program and implemented an innovative system to
control, maintain and communicate spacecraft configuration in a concurrent engineering environment.
Senior Integration and Test Engineer
7/90 to 7/92
Directed the build, testing and integration of the Gamma Ray Spectrograph onto the Mars Observer
Spacecraft, acted as company liaison to NASA, Jet Propulsion Laboratory and General Electric Astro Space
Division.
Lead Systems and Mechanical Engineer
6/83 to 6/90
Implemented the assembly and integration of the Faint Object Spectrograph onto the Hubble Space
Telescope, responsible for integrity of mechanisms and structure, designed and coordinated fabrication of
mechanical modifications and retrofits, supported various analyses, build and test of spare components and
replacement of detectors and heat pipes and provided Mechanical and Systems Engineering support to a
variety of small programs within Flight Systems.
PROFESSIONAL SKILLS AND AWARDS
Wrote and presented “AFRL's Demonstration and Science Experiments (DSX) Program – Quest for the
Common Micro Satellite Bus”
Wrote and presented “Payload Accommodation in the Faster Better & Cheaper Environment” at the 19th
Aerospace Testing Seminar
Received Group Achievement Award and certification of Recognition from Jet Propulsion Lab for
performance on the Mars Global Surveyor
Received Group Achievement Award and Certification of Recognition from Goddard Space Flight Center for
performance on the Gamma Ray Spectrometer
Received Group Achievement Award and Certification of Recognition from Goddard Space Flight Center for
performance on the Faint Object Spectrograph
Completed Corporate Systems Engineering Class
Completed Spacecraft Design Class taught by Mike Griffin and Jim French
Completed Systems Engineering Management Course at the Lockheed Martin Evening Institute
Completed the Lockheed Martin Product Integrity Engineering Course
Received several Employee Accommodation Awards
Completed “Project Management Body of Knowledge” from Colorado State University
Top Secret DoD Security Clearance
EDUCATION
University of Colorado - Bachelors of Science in Mechanical Engineering, May/1982
University of Colorado - Masters in Business Administration, Minor in Finance, December/1987