Our team and mission

Our team at ESA is developing, together with the Polish industries, the first Polish Earth Observation mission CAMILA – Country Awareness Mission – In Land Analysis. As part of the project our team provides technical assistance to the contracted Polish industries for the development of a SAR mission. The launch of the spacecraft is planned in 2028 but the design activities are in full swing. You will collaborate with the System Performance and Payload Data Ground Segment engineer, and with the SAR Instrument Engineer, for the development of the SAR Ground Prototype Processor to be delivered to the Payload Data Ground Segment industry for the implementation of the operational processing chain. We offer a learning experience in a young, dynamic and motived team, both at ESA and at our industrial counterpart. 

Candidates interested are encouraged to visit the ESA website: http://www.esa.int

Field(s) of activity for the internship

Topic of the internship: SAR data processing for the Polish national operational mission

You will contribute to the development of a ground processing prototype for X-band SAR images. Your activities will include:

• designing and developing prototype algorithms for ground processing of Synthetic Aperture Radar images, with a focus on X-band systems;
• developing Synthetic Aperture Radar image processing;
• validating and benchmarking of the processor prototype using real and/or simulated SAR data;
• supporting performance analysis in terms of image quality, geometric accuracy, and noise characteristics;
• supporting the integration of the prototype into existing ground segments or demonstrator environments.

Behavioural competencies

Result Orientation
Operational Efficiency
Fostering Cooperation
Relationship Management
Continuous Improvement
Forward Thinking

For more information, please refer to ESA Core Behavioural Competencies guidebook

Education

You must be a university student, preferably studying at master’s level. In addition, you must be able to prove that you will be enrolled at your University for the entire duration of the internship.

Additional requirements

The working languages of the Agency are English and French. A good knowledge of one of these is required. Knowledge of another ESA Member State language is an asset.

During the interview, your motivation for applying to this role will be explored.

It will be considered an asset the knowledge or experience in any of the following areas:

• knowledge of SAR principles and radar signal processing fundamentals;
• familiarity with SAR Earth Observation missions and their data products, architectures, and applications;
• understanding of digital signal processing techniques, including filtering, interpolation, and matched filtering;
• familiarity with SAR datasets, preferably in X-band;
• experience with programming languages such as Python, MATLAB, or C/C++ for algorithm development.