Intern in the Galileo Programme Department

Our team and mission

The Galileo Programme Department is responsible for the management and implementation of the Galileo FOC Delegation Agreements concluded between the European Commission and ESA, the implementation of the Working Arrangements between the GSA and ESA related to the Galileo programme, and tasks delegated by the EU to ESA in the frame of future agreements, including the implementation of Galileo Second Generation and related transition activities, with special attention to ESA’s role as system prime and procurement agent and as design and qualification authority.

The internship opportunity is within the G2G System Engineering Unit, Galileo 2nd Generation Project Office, in the Galileo Programme Department. The Galileo Programme Department handles the system engineering, segment engineering and procurement of the Galileo System and its evolutions.  We are the design authority of Galileo in support to the EU and we are the System Prime for those Galileo system releases under development. This includes the Galileo 2nd Generation, for which the G2G System Engineering Unit plays a key role. The Unit covers a wide range of tasks related to the system specification, end-to-end design, verification, deployment and maintenance aspects to bring the Galileo 2nd Generation into reality. Currently the Galileo 2nd Generation is undergoing the Preliminary Design Review. We are multidisciplinary, enthusiast and diverse team and work hand in hand with other G2G and Galileo discliplines from Security engineers to Ground and Space Segment engineers.

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

Field(s) of activity for the internship

Topic: GNSS Space Network Dissemination 

As in other areas of space engineering, GNSS systems are incorporating more and more satellite connected architectures and networks to better fulfill their mission. In the case of GNSS, this has been happening through the increasing use of Intersatellite Links (ISL). ISL provides improvements not only in mission products dissemination and position accuracy at user level, and also in terms of constellation management at operator level. Galileo is including ISL-based network in its 2nd Generation; currently under design.

 
For this to be become a reality, ISL requires not only a technological development but also advanced yet robust network architectures,  protocols, and planning techniques that need to consider the specific conditions and use cases to be covered.  In addition, the ISL-based space network needs to work within an overall concept of end-to-end data dissemination and system architecture. 

As an intern, you will work together with our system engineers, and devise and simulate new ISL-based network architectures, and protocols that can be included in the Galileo 2nd Generation design, while getting immersed in the overall data dissemination and architecture of the Galileo 2nd Generation. The outcome of this work will be used to shape the Galileo space network and consolidate the ISL interface physical and logical layers. You will develop new satellite network communications protocol skills while gaining experience in Galileo, and space systems, in a team environment full of motivation and cultural diversity.

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.