Our team and mission

The Commercialisation and Innovation Team in the Directorate of Human & Robotic Exploration (HRE) leads the definition and coordinates the implementation of all HRE cross-sectoral innovation initiatives as outlined in the Agency’s European Exploration Envelope Programme (E3P) Innovation Plan. 

This includes, in particular, delivery of the E3P Space Resources Plan and the establishment of Low-Earth Orbit and Lunar platform-based commercial services developed in the frame of the open ‘Call for Commercial Services and Products’. 

Furthermore, the Team’s responsibilities include the promotion of non-ESA funded demand for such services through the Business in Space Growth Network (BSGN), as well as delivering a comprehensive lunar communication and navigation service in coordination with the ESA Directorates of Navigation and Telecommunications. 

The BSGN’s Industry Accelerators for Sustainable Food, Advanced Materials and in-Space Manufacturing and Health are fostering business opportunities in space exploration to private industry, acting as Business-to-Business (B2B) interface between the space industry and other industries. It aims to establish an ecosystem for commercial projects to grow and provides relevant support mechanisms and frameworks to support the development of the LEO and Lunar Economy.

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

Field(s) of activity for the internship

Topic of the internship: Space Resource Utilisation

The European Space Agency is currently investing in the development of Space Resources Utilisation application, developing technologies along the ISRU value chain, from prospecting, excavation, extraction of resources and their end use, focusing on developing a roadmap of applications, discerning between institutional and commercial applications along the value chain.

These activities comprise several fields in which the Agency is proactively expanding, the technical aspects, with the creation of state of the art laboratories in collaboration with the Luxembourg Government, to community engagement activities, such as the Space Resources Week and the Space Resources Challenge, and by supporting Space Resources Start up programmes and Accelerators. In this context, there is an ongoing effort in supporting Academia in the development of Space Resources enabled Business Cases, with the creation of a framework to guide the research towards areas of interest for the European Space Resources market development.

Whilst the Agency, and its international partners, are still working out the details of ISRU driven architectures, to move towards a more sustainable, and sustained exploration of the celestial bodies, the ground-based testing facilities are being developed to provide the community with access to bespoke technologies.

You will experience a variety of tasks in a very flexible environment. Spanning from technical work, and providing support to the compilation of programmatic and strategy documents, with an opportunity to learn a variety of tasks and skills which will be useful for your career.

As an intern in the Commercialisation and Innovation Team (HRE-FC), you will be:

• Supporting community engagement activities: This will involve participation and contribution to webinars, and supporting public events the group might be involved with;
• Supporting the development of the Space Resources Value Business Models: providing organisational support and technical expertise where applicable. Helping to coordinate ongoing development work and to refine existing models. This will also involve investigating public domain information sources to gather stronger data sets to support the modelling activities. With ample opportunity for the candidate to improve existing skills or be introduced to new ones;
• Supporting the development of Architecture Driven Application scenarios: In combination with the previous task, your help will be required in drafting and developing documents covering the technological developments aimed at specific applications enabling and advancing ISRU driven architecture currently under definition, based on internationally discussed and agreed overarching architectures.

In general, it is expected of you to be flexible in the tasks which will be assigned, which will be commensurate to the expertise and aimed at providing you with real work experience, whilst contributing to fundamental aspects of the Space Resources technology and community development.

You should be familiar with one or more of the Space Resources fields and have a good understanding of Mission Architectures, in order to create clear development paths for the required and critical technologies.
An understanding of how the nuances between institutional technological development and commercial technology development in the field of space would be a distinct bonus. 

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.

Knowledge and background Mission Analysis and Design, ISRU technologies, and general competencies in research and development of technologies would be an asset.