Senior Guidance, Navigation and Controls Engineer, MDA Space
Faizan Rehmatullah is a Senior Guidance, Navigation and Controls Engineer at MDA Space and the Architect for some of Canada’s most significant planetary robotics programs. With more than a decade of experience across lunar and Mars exploration missions, his work spans mission and system architecture definition, technical trades, and mission-critical design decisions. He is currently responsible for defining core architectures for programs tied to the Artemis initiative, where design choices carry long-term operational and national consequences. His leadership positions Canadian engineering at the center of international deep-space exploration efforts.
At MDA Space, Faizan currently serves as Mission Architect for the Canadian Lunar Utility Vehicle (LUV), one of Canada’s largest investments in lunar surface capability. In this role, he is responsible for the rover’s end-to-end system architecture, including space and ground segments. Faizan is also responsible for key architecture trade studies, definition of key performance parameters, and defining the technology development roadmap. The role requires sustained coordination with government stakeholders, commercial partners, and company leadership to ensure the rover can support long-duration Artemis surface operations under extreme lunar conditions.
In parallel, Faizan is leading the design and development of the MDA SKYMAKER Lunar Robotic Arm for NASA’s Lunar Terrain Vehicle as part of the Lunar Dawn team. He has overseen the program from architectural definition through design reviews with NASA, translating complex system requirements into a mission-ready robotic solution capable of supporting lunar surface science and utility tasks for crewed missions. These responsibilities reflect a level of trust typically reserved for senior technical leaders, grounded in his ability to connect detailed engineering decisions with mission-level objectives.
Earlier in his career, Faizan served as Systems Lead for the Mars Sample Fetch Rover mobility subsystem, working closely with ESA, NASA, and Airbus. In that role, he directed requirement definition, coordinated interfaces across international partners, and led mobility testing for a rover designed to retrieve samples for eventual return to Earth. He has also led multiple field tests at Canadian Space Agency’s analogue terrain, validating autonomous navigation technologies and advancing Canada’s readiness for future lunar missions.
Across these programs, Faizan is recognized for bringing structure, clarity, and strategic thinking to highly complex technical challenges, qualities that have made him a trusted representative of MDA Space with partners and stakeholders. Beyond program execution, he contributes actively to the broader community through public lectures and university engagements, sharing insights on planetary robotics and Canada’s role in lunar and Mars exploration, while mentoring early-career engineers navigating high-stakes mission environments.
