Nick Lafarge
Mission Design Engineer at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
Silver Spring, Maryland, United States
Summary
👤
Senior🎓
Top SchoolNick LaFarge is a mission design engineer and PhD candidate specializing in astrodynamics, numerical methods, and software engineering, with 11 years of experience bridging research and operational spaceflight work. His NASA-funded doctoral research develops reinforcement learning–aided low-thrust guidance and control for cislunar missions, and has been applied during visiting technologist stints at Goddard and mission work at JPL and Johnson Space Center. He combines deep technical chops in C++, Python, and high-performance computing with practical flight-software experience on Orion’s GN&C and trajectory targeting. Prior to academia he shipped production Android apps (including leading OpenSnow’s Android release) and founded a small software consultancy, giving him product-minded engineering and client-facing experience. Known for translating cutting-edge research into mission-relevant tools, he also mentors peers and has produced open-source trajectory propagation code intended for broad community use. Based in Silver Spring, MD, he pairs a BA in Mathematics and Japanese with an interdisciplinary approach that blends algorithms, software, and space mission design.
11 years of coding experience
6 years of employment as a software developer
Japanese Language, Japanese Language at 関西外国語大学 / Kansai Gaidai UniversityBachelor of Arts (BA), Mathematics and Japanese, Bachelor of Arts (BA), Mathematics and Japanese at University of Colorado at BoulderDoctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Aerospace, Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Aerospace, Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering at Purdue UniversityColorado Academy
Japanese, English, Spanish, Latvian
Stackoverflow
1reputation
0reached
0answers
0questions
Github Skills (21)
algorithms6
astrodynamics5
wxwidgets5
reinforcement-learning5
linux4
2d-vector4
windows4
python4
matlab4
gui-toolkit4
3d3
wxpython3
openai3
numerical-integration3
visualizations3
Programming languages (3)
Github contributions (5)
nicklafarge/OrPytal
May 2018 - Oct 2022
Contributions:64 commits, 39 pushes, 2 branches in 4 years 6 months
nicklafarge/nicklafarge.github.io
Sep 2022 - Oct 2025
Github Pages template for academic personal websites, forked from mmistakes/minimal-mistakes
Contributions:29 pushes in 3 years 2 months
templategithub-pages-templatemmistakesmistakesjekyll
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