For Country I Commit to Service · San Francisco Bay Area
Aaron John Estrada
Electrical Engineer & Spacecraft Operator
1st Lt, Civil Air Patrol (USAF Auxiliary) · FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot

Summary

Electrical engineer and spacecraft operator with experience in satellite operations, TT&C, telemetry, RF communications, and UAV systems. Comfortable in mission-critical environments — spacecraft commanding, anomaly response, ground-station operations, and mission rehearsals. FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot with leadership experience in Civil Air Patrol air operations and incident management.

Education

M.S. Space Systems Engineering
Johns Hopkins University
In Progress
B.S. Electrical Engineering
Sonoma State University
GPA 3.31 · Graduated with Distinction

Experience

Spacecraft Operator / Mission Operations Engineer
Xona Space Systems
Jul 2026 – Present

Primary Flight Operator for Xona's satellite constellation — real-time commanding, telemetry monitoring, and contingency response.

Planetary Rover Advisor
FRANK Autonomous
Jul 2026 – Present

Technical guidance to engineers building autonomous planetary rover systems and a lunar lander simulator, focused on GNC, navigation, communications, sensing, and mission operations.

Founder & Lead Engineer
VECTOR-SARDF, Stella UAV
Aug 2025 – Present

Led development of a UAV-based SDR system that detects and localizes 121.5 / 121.775 MHz emergency locator transmitters for search and rescue. Built the RSSI direction-finding pipeline and designed the airborne RF front-end and link budget. In collaboration with Civil Air Patrol.

1st Lt, Emergency Services & Disaster Relief Officer
Civil Air Patrol, U.S. Air Force Auxiliary
Jan 2026 – Present

Lead air and ground emergency services and disaster relief missions supporting USAF and Cal OES taskings. Serve as Planning Section Chief, Air Operations Branch Director, and Flight Release Officer.

Electrical Engineer Intern
Jump Aero Inc.
Jun – Dec 2025

Co-led early design of a terrain-adaptable aircraft tug and produced CAD models for aircraft support equipment.

CubeSat Engineer Assistant
EdEon — 3UCubed Satellite
Sep 2024 – Aug 2025

Programmed the EnduroSat on-board computer in C and Python, and supported RF design and end-to-end telemetry between the satellite and the Sonoma State ground station. The mission has since launched and is operating on-orbit.

CAD Technician I & EnergyPro Operator
EnergyLogics Inc.
Aug 2019 – Dec 2025

AutoCAD drawings and EnergyPro documentation for MEP systems, supporting California Title 24 energy compliance.

Student Ambassador
Sonoma State University Police Department
Sep 2022 – May 2026

Supported public safety operations and taught FEMA ICS and radio communications to police student interns.

Volunteer Service

Technical Skills

PythonMATLABCBashGrafana GNU RadioRTL-SDRBladeRFB200mini Link budget analysisTT&CTelemetry systems PixhawkQGroundControlArduinoSTM32 Raspberry PiJetson NanoOnshapeAutoCAD Fusion 3603D printing

Certifications

Flight Hours

Selected Recognition

Languages

English · Tagalog · Elementary Spanish