A Space Talent Spotlight Series Interview with Lawrence Leung, Director of Mission Systems at Muon Space, former Systems Engineer and GNC Engineer at Zoox and Planet.
What is your background?
I consider myself a late-bloomer when it comes to engineering and technology. I spent my childhood in suburban Sydney chasing soccerballs, not microchips, I wasn’t the “kid who took apart things to see how it works” Until I was eighteen, I planned to study physiotherapy—until, one week before college enrollment deadlines, my older brother dared me to “try engineering for a semester” after noting that I was uncharacteristically interested in the TV show Mythbusters. I made a snap decision and decided to double major—Mechatronics and Accounting & Finance—thinking I could switch back to a “safer” option if it didn’t stick. It did.
The real turning point came during an exchange semester at Purdue University. That experience blew the doors off what I thought was possible. I was surrounded by students casually building rockets in student clubs, drafting up planetary rover prototypes over coffee, and career fairs where engineering design jobs were just as highly coveted as financial and consulting ones I was used to in my home country Two realizations hit me: space could be an actual career—not just a NASA dream—and the United States was where commercial space was taking off. The density of ambition, mentorship, and opportunity was on a different level. I flew home energized and determined to be a part of it..
That goal led me to an undergraduate research thesis in ML-based satellite operations, a master’s in Aeronautics and Astronautics at Stanford, and then to an internship at a stealth startup in San Francisco that turned out to be Planet. That lucky break launched a decade-long journey through Planet, Zoox, and now Muon Space. I’ve worked on smallsats, self-driving cars, and climate-observation missions, while navigating every immigration and export control hurdle. If there’s one through-line, it’s this: I didn’t start early, but once I knew what I wanted, I charted a path, and ran hard at it.
What have been your top career accomplishments so far?
On the technical front, I’d say automated GNC calibration of the Dove constellation at Planet. Only two of us were responsible for bringing nearly 90 satellites on a single launch vehicle to stable pointing—without manual intervention. It was a tremendous cross-functional effort and took several iterations to get right, but watching those CubeSats pop off the PSLV and quietly self-commission, no manual intervention and no late-night fire drills required, remains an unforgettable moment.
More recently, I’m proud of the Mission Systems team we’ve built at Muon Space. We began with a blank sheet and a thesis: combine rigorous systems thinking with high-integrity execution across the entire mission value chain. It goes beyond just designing and launching a space vehicle, today my team oversees the full stack—mission formulation, system trades,, prototyping, AI&T, operations and data delivery. We don’t just design one mission; we work cross functionally to build the machine that makes it a reliable and repeatable process. In our industry, it's commonplace to hear people say “space is hard”, but I take a lot of pride in building a team and experience where people enjoy solving complex technical problems - within my team and working with my team - and hopefully turn that narrative into “space is hard, but space is fun”.
What were the critical steps/choices that helped you get ahead?
Every major inflection came from leaning into discomfort and uncertainty. You collect whatever information you can, however incomplete, and make a call. I moved to the U.S. with no safety net or visa certainty, jumped into autonomous vehicles at Zoox with zero automotive background, and accepted a leadership role despite imposter syndrome.
The key was reframing decisions as two-way doors. If I walked through and hated it, I could always pivot. That mindset made risk manageable and growth inevitable. I also seek environments where I’m slightly over my head—because that’s where I feel the strongest motivation to catch-up and learn fast.
What part of your education had the most impact on your career?
Thinking back on my education and how it impacted my career, it's less about the content of the courses or the degree as much as it was the structure around juggling education with the rest of my life. College courses and extra-curricular activities are demanding on their own and at my university, it was uncommon for local students to live on campus. Typically, international students live on campus and the rest of us travel pretty far - personally for me it was 1-1.5 hours every morning and afternoon. Additionally, I was working 2-3 days a week throughout my degree and so I had a pretty packed schedule. What this forced was strict discipline with time management, getting comfortable with context switching, and understanding how I learn most effectively and how I rest/recover most effectively. I didn’t realize it at the time, but these turned out to be critical skills that have served me well in fast-paced environments.
What about your career have you enjoyed the most and least?
Most: the velocity. Venture-backed startups hand you responsibility faster than you think you deserve. One month I’m modeling attitude control; the next, I’m pitching missions and orbital architectures to customers. You learn fast, ship fast, and build with purpose.
Least: the same velocity. Startups can consume every hour you allow. Oftentimes, it feels like you’re sprinting a marathon. With two young kids, I’ve become ruthless about protecting family time—dinner, bath, bedtime. Parenthood hasn’t dulled my ambition; it sharpened my focus. I think long-term, delegate aggressively, and model sustainability for my team.
Where do you see the most promising career opportunities in the future?
The strongest tailwinds in space and adjacent sectors revolve around power—how it’s generated, stored, and moved. AI infrastructure is devouring megawatts; satellites demand higher duty cycles; space-based power concepts are surfacing. That unlocks challenges in thermal control, battery life, in-orbit servicing, and fault tolerance. Of course, on top of that there is the challenge of finding ways to scale these needs in a sustainable, climate-friendly way.
If I were starting today, I’d dive into electrical systems and high-reliability hardware. Those who master energy—on Earth or in orbit—will underpin the next era of aerospace.
What advice/resources would you share with the next generation?
Is there anything else you would like to share?
Parenting while building startups is organized chaos. Kids force radical prioritization: if a meeting won’t matter in twelve months, it doesn’t outrank story time. They also remind you that legacy isn’t patents, lines of code committed, or satellites launched to orbit; it’s people who flourish because you showed them what’s possible.
Finally, choosing the startup is half the battle. I look for three signals:
If the answer is “yes” three times, you’ve found a rocket worth riding. Space is hard, but it’s far easier—and infinitely more rewarding—when you strap in with people who bet boldly on one another and pay their luck forward.
