Intern in the Space Safety Programme Office

Our team and mission

The Space Safety Programme Office takes care of all potential hazards from space or in space, which can impact human activities on Earth or again in space. The spectrum of tasks ranges from gathering the basic understanding of space hazards originating from our Sun, from man-made space debris, or from asteroids potentially colliding with the Earth. It also addresses basic approaches to mitigate these hazards and to implement space systems end-to-end in a sustainable and eco-compatible way. Moreover, several corner stone missions are underway to demonstrate basic methods of space weather forecasting, asteroid deflection and active space debris removal from orbit.

The Space Debris Office constitutes the focal point for ESA space debris activities and is responsible for coordinating the Agency’s space debris research activities, for all space debris related operational and analysis services in support of ESA missions, and for ESA’s cooperation on space debris issues at inter-agency level. Its work is centred around a wide range of operational and scientific analysis software, developed, maintained and operated under its control.

For further information visit our web site: http://www.esa.int

Field(s) of activity for the internship

You can choose between the following topics:

1) Topic 1: Status and future evolution of the space debris environment and supporting missions (Environment)

You will be involved in activities in the area of analyses on the status and future evolution of the space debris environment and supporting missions. You will be assigned to topics in the areas of analysis of mitigation and remediation techniques, evaluation of new concepts and the development and application of the necessary means to verify and qualify such concepts. The work will support the ongoing analysis and implementation of improvements to ESA's reporting on compliance with Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines and support to the development of tools for environment impact assessment. You will support the definition of study work in that field and contribute to the technical follow-up of such studies. You will attend regular team meetings and support the coordination of activities within a group of experts. You will be required to contribute to updating existing analysis tools.
You will work in a small team. You will have the opportunity to actively contribute to on-going projects and research activities, develop new tools, and present results to an international community.

2) Topic 2: Status and future evolution of the space debris environment and supporting missions (Collision Avoidance)

You will be involved in activities in the area of analyses on the status and future evolution of the space debris environment and supporting missions. You will be assigned to topics developing technologies for automated collision avoidance. The work will support improvements to ESA's collision avoidance process in view of growing orbital population, better situation knowledge and extended data sources, as well as emerging automation needs, e.g. under the related cornerstone of the Space Safety Programme. You will support the definition of study work in that field and contribute to the technical follow-up of such studies. You will attend regular team meetings and support the coordination of activities within a group of experts. You will be required to contribute to updating existing analysis tools. You will work in a small team. You will have the opportunity to actively contribute to on-going projects and research activities, develop new tools, and present results to an international community.

Behavioural competencies

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

Education

You must have student status and be enrolled at university for the entire duration of the internship. You should preferably be in your final or second to last year of a university course at master’s level in a technical or scientific discipline.

Additional requirements

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

Educational knowledge:

1) Topic 1:

• Good knowledge and background in engineering modeling, simulation and mathematics would be an asset.
• Previous demonstrated experience with scientific computing in Python would be an asset.

2) Topic 2: 

• Good knowledge and background in engineering modeling, simulation and mathematics would be an asset.
• Previous demonstrated experience with scientific computing in Python would be an asset.