Description

Vega and Space Rider Flight Dynamics Engineer, reporting to the Head of the GNC Systems Architecture Section (parent organisation unit), in the GNC, AOCS and Pointing Division, Electrical Department, Directorate of Technology, Engineering and Quality.

For your first assignment, you will be located at ESRIN and provide support to the Vega and Space Rider Launch System and Engineering Division, Flight Programmes Department, Directorate of Space Transportation.

Duties

This Division is responsible for managing engineering expertise in the Vega and Space Rider Integrated Project Team, supporting ESA and institutional missions, ensuring compatibility between launch systems, payloads and mission requirements. The Division is also responsible for maintaining technical consistency in the development and exploitation of the Vega-C, Vega-E and Space Rider systems, as well as for the implementation of the launch system industrial activities.

Within this context, you will serve as the focal point for all aspects relating to the flight dynamics of the Vega launcher family and Space Rider, from early mission feasibility through final mission analysis and post flight assessment. You will conduct and oversee trajectory, separation and collision avoidance analyses, support development activities, contribute to post flight analyses and anomaly investigations, maintain mission registers and technical documentation, and develop and adapt in house flight dynamics tools to evolving launcher configurations and mission needs, in close coordination with internal ESA teams, ESTEC and industrial partners.

Your tasks and responsibilities will include:

• serving as the focal point for all trajectory analyses to be performed as part the preparation of Vega missions;
• supporting the GNC system development with an emphasis on guidance definition through trajectory analysis and optimisation in closed-loop;
• supporting ESA and institutional customers, from the early development phases, on all aspects related to payload compatibility with the Vega launcher family, in close coordination with the experts from the Vega Integrated Project Team;
• participating in Vega-C mission analyses covering the full lifecycle from early feasibility studies and activities through to final mission analyses, ensuring the compliance of mission characteristics with the launcher’s qualified domain;
• conducting preliminary separation and collision-avoidance analyses, based on preliminary mission inputs, to support ESA and institutional missions;
• performing long-term trajectory propagation analyses, including critical reviews of industrial inputs related to no-collision and mid-term collision avoidance assessments, with particular emphasis on Vega-C dual-launch and multi-payload configurations;
• supporting Vega-C post-flight mission analyses related to trajectory and separation performance, including contributions to anomaly investigations within the relevant domain and the performance of independent cross-checks where required, for example to refine internal model uncertainties;
• maintaining the register of future missions and preparing bi-yearly internal reports highlighting key criticalities with respect to the launcher’s qualified perimeter;
• producing relevant technical documentation and presenting analysis results to ESA and institutional customers as well as to internal or external stakeholders;
• maintaining, adapting and further developing in-house flight dynamics tools to accommodate new launcher characteristics and evolving mission needs, including mathematical solvers and tools for concurrent optimisation of GNC-related aspects of the space vehicle and trajectory.

Technical competencies

Behavioural competencies

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

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

Education and professional experience

A master’s degree in engineering is required with 4 years of experience in space engineering, ideally in the space transportation field.

Additional requirements

• Professional experience in one or more relevant technical domains within the space sector, such as flight dynamics, mission or trajectory analysis, system engineering, trajectory optimisation or analysis of transient flight phases, including separation.
• Experience in launcher systems and launcher design, including basic understanding of launcher performance, mission envelopes, staging concepts and operational or qualification constraints.
• Experience in mission analysis activities, including trajectory definition, long-term propagation, separation analysis and collision-avoidance studies.
• Ability to review industrial analyses and data and to perform independent checks and sensitivity analyses.
• Knowledge of, or initial hands-on experience with, ASTOS for trajectory and mission analysis would be an asset, together with the ability and willingness to learn and adapt to additional engineering tools.
• Familiarity with multi-payload and complex launcher mission concepts, such as dual launch, rideshare and evolving mission configurations, would be an asset.
• Experience of working in a multidisciplinary engineering environment and interacting with agency teams, industry and institutional customers would be an asset.
• Initial practical experience in trajectory optimisation would be a strong asset.
• Strong analytical skills, a results-oriented approach, the ability to work effectively in a team and good interpersonal skills are essential.