Kit Kennedy
VP Of Flight Algorithms at Starfish Space
Seattle, Washington, United States
Summary
🤩
Rockstar🎓
Top SchoolKit Kennedy is a VP of Flight Algorithms with a decade of experience building autonomy, embedded systems, and flight software for space and robotics organizations. Currently leading algorithm development at Starfish Space after scaling autonomy efforts as Principal Autonomy Engineer, Kit combines PhD-level aerospace research from MIT with hands-on engineering across SpaceX, JPL, and an entrepreneurial stint co-founding Vinci Lab. They have practical embedded and automation chops—contributing test and control utilities to NASA-JPL’s open-source rover project—and have implemented mission-critical tooling such as gRPC interfaces for in-house simulation and automated telemetry review. Known for turning research-grade ideas into flight-ready systems, Kit blends software, controls, and hardware insight to create labs and teams that rapidly prototype and operationalize novel space technologies.
10 years of coding experience
8 years of employment as a software developer
SM, Aerospace, Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering, SM, Aerospace, Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering at MITDoctor of Philosophy - PhD, Aerospace, Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering, Doctor of Philosophy - PhD, Aerospace, Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyBachelor of Science (B.S.), Aerospace, Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering, Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Aerospace, Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering at The University of Texas at AustinNone, Luft- und Raumfahrttechnik, None, Luft- und Raumfahrttechnik at Universität Stuttgart
French, German
Github Skills (11)
controls10
automation10
bash10
automations10
controller10
python10
ros10
udev9
sys9
ubuntu9
embedded9
Programming languages (9)
Github contributions (5)
nasa-jpl/osr-rover-code
Jul 2020 - Mar 2021
Code that runs on the Open Source Rover
Role in this project:
Embedded Systems Engineer / Automation Engineer
Embedded Systems Engineer / Automation EngineerContributions:43 reviews, 49 commits, 15 PRs in 7 months
Contributions summary:Kit made significant contributions to the rover's software, primarily focusing on system configuration and control. They fixed bugs in launch scripts, and created a utility script to convert the readme into a pdf. The user developed a test script for the Roboclaw motor controller and made improvements to the idle motor control logic. They also added a udev rules file and enhanced the launch script with custom modification capabilities.
roverpythonruns
apollokit/osr-rover-code
Jul 2020 - Jan 2024
Code that runs on the Open Source Rover
Contributions:69 pushes, 15 branches in 3 years 6 months
roverruns
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