Our team and mission

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

Field(s) of activity for the internship

You can choose between the following topics:

Topic 1: NEOCC Weighting Scheme for Orbit Determination

Orbit determination is the immediate step needed after the discovery or the reobservation of an asteroid. This is typically achieved by gathering all the observations obtained of a given object and reported to the Minor Planet Center (MPC), and then using them in a dedicated paratemer estimation process meant to determine the orbital elements of the treated object.

In this internship, you will contribute to the development of a methodology for evaluating the quality of asteroid observations used in orbit computation and impact risk analysis. Your main task will be to design and implement a method to evaluate and assign weights to individual optical observations based on their statistical properties. This will involve:

• analysing the distribution of residuals (differences between observed and computed positions).
• defining rules for assigning weights to different observatories based on performance and data volume.
• exploring different strategies for assigning weights, such as excluding low-quality data and giving more weight to high-confidence observations.
• implementing a procedure to regularly perform this analysis as new data become available.
• assessing how different weighting approaches affect the results of the orbit determination process and, if possible, their influence on impact risk estimates.
• performing tests to measure predictive accuracy by checking how well orbits computed from a short observation time span can reproduce later observations.

Through this internship, you will gain experience in handling real astronomical data, performing statistical analysis, improving scientific software, and evaluating the effects of observation quality on orbit predictions. You will also become familiar with methods used in planetary defense and the practical challenges of processing observational data for scientific and operational purposes.

Topic 2: Radar as a follow-up for NEOMIR imminent impactors discoveries

ESA’s forthcoming NEOMIR spacecraft will watch the Sun-facing sky from the Sun–Earth L1 point and is expected to warn of asteroids ≥ 20 m in diameter at least three weeks before Earth impact. Because these objects approach from solar elongations that are unobservable from Earth, optical follow-up is impossible. Ground-based planetary RADAR, however, can illuminate and receive echoes from targets even in daylight, yielding precise range-Doppler astrometry and physical characterization. Currently, only a few non-european facilities are capable of performing routine radar observations. Quantifying what hardware is actually needed to support NEOMIR is therefore of immediate value to ESA’s Planetary Defence Office and to the broader radar-astronomy community to provide guidance to the development of European radar facilities for Near-Earth objects observations.

Between 2021 and 2024 the ESA Planetary Defence Office ran the “NEO Observation Concepts for Radar Systems” study. The project assessed the functional requirements for a dedicated European planetaryradar capability, surveyed all candidate antennas, and executed bistatic test campaigns using European dishes. This study concluded that Europe is possessing enough large dishes to act as a high-gain receiver, but still lacks the high-power transmitter comparable to American assets.  

Internship Objectives

• Synthetic population & discovery simulation:
  • import the official NEOMIR end-to-end detection simulations to produce orbital elements, epochs, H-magnitudes, and discovery circumstances for imminent impactors. 
• Observation-window analysis:
  • propagate each object from discovery epoch to impact, compute geometric constraints and identify time windows when the target is above 15° elevation for major radar sites. 
• Link-budget & SNR modelling:
  • implement the radar equation (monostatic and bistatic), including transmitter power​, antenna gain, wavelength, target radar-cross-section, system temperature​, and integration time. 
  • evaluate current and potential future radar systems.
• Pointing-uncertainty requirements: 
  • from NEOMIR’s expected astrometric precision, estimate plane-of-sky uncertainty growth; derive the maximum admissible 1-σ ephemeris error (in arcminutes and km/s Doppler) that still keeps the echo inside the receiver bandwidth and range window. 
• Synthesis: 
  • recommend a minimum-viable radar architecture (or network) that allows for follow-up of NEOMIR imminent impactors discoveries. 

The internship will deliver the first quantitative assessment of how (and whether) existing or planned ground-based radar assets can secure the rapid, high-precision orbit refinement that NEOMIR-detected impactors will require. The results can feed directly into ESA’s infrastructure road-maps, support proposals for European radar upgrades, and ultimately enhance Earth’s planetary-defense readiness.

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. 

Additional requirements for internship topic 1:

• background in Python programming.
• basic knowledge of statistics is highly desirable for this internship.
• familiarity with data analysis tools or scientific computing will be considered an asset.

Additional requirements for internship topic 2:

• background in Python programming.
• familiarity with signal theory and/or radio astronomy will be considered an asset.