Intern in the Education Office

Our team and mission

The ESA Education Office has the objective to use space as a theme to enhance the literacy of young people in science and technology and to motivate young Europeans to pursue a space related career. 
In support of the educational objectives, the Office offers:

• Classroom resources that can be used by teachers and students of STEM subjects
• Classroom projects and competitions
• An ‘ESA Academy’ programme to support university students in their studies
• Teacher training courses that use space as a context to enhance the teaching of STEM subjects. As part of the STEM programme for primary and secondary school teachers, the e-technology lab, a didactic laboratory, offers direct hands-on experience by using space robotics and space science as learning and teaching contexts.

The Training and Learning Programme aims at complementing the standard academic formation in space-related disciplines offered to students from ESA Member and Associate States. One of its main objectives is to attract future workers to the space sector by transferring knowledge, know-how, and standards in all fields of ESA expertise. 

The CubeSat Support Facility (CSF) is an assembly integration and testing facility for CubeSats. Its purpose is to offer training and test facilities for university students that are part, or aiming to be part, of ESA’s educational CubeSat initiatives such as ‘Fly Your Satellite!', as well as supporting practical training as part of the Training and Learning Programme's courses and workshops. 

The Fly Your Satellite! programme is a hands-on programme of the ESA Academy supporting University teams with the design, development, test, launch and operations of their own CubeSats. 

Location: The internship will take place at ESEC (Belgium)

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: Support ESA Academy's Concurrent Engineering Training Sessions

In the frame of the ESA Academy's Training and Learning Programme, you will assist in the upgrade and improvement of the calculation sheets used in the delivery of ESA Academy's Concurrent Engineering Training Activities. The calculation sheets are from multiple domains/subsystems and are used individually by student teams to aid the design/sizing of these subsystems during the first design of the mission.

To that end, as an intern, you will be introduced to the Concurrent Engineering approach & COMET software tool, get familiar with the existing educational calculation sheets, debug and improve the calculation sheets, create user manual for each calculation sheet, expand the usability of calculation sheets, assess and evaluate the new implementations with students/colleagues and identify additional tools to support the student teams in the design/sizing of their subsystems.

If ESA Academy's Concurrent Engineering Training Session(s) will be delivered during the internship period, you will support the preparation, delivery and post-delivery activities.

2) Topic 2: Mechanical testing adapter investigation 

In support of the ESA Academy's CubeSat Support Facility (CSF), you will perform an investigation regarding test adapters used for the mechanical testing (vibration testing) of CubeSats. 

In particular, as an intern, you will investigate and understand the limitations and characteristics of currently utilized test adapters (based on previous investigations performed at the CSF) , investigate potential design solutions addressing the above limitations, investigate the suitability of commercially available test adapters, analyse potential designs/products with respect to mechanical properties and interface with the current CSF facilities., propose a test adapter for manufacture and/or purchase, potentially (time permitting) assist it the procurement and/or manufacture of the proposed test adapter and potentially (time permitting) assist in the mechanical characterization of the procured/manufactured solution.

3) Topic 3: Preliminary study for a CubeSat shock testing facility 

In support of the ESA Academy's CubeSat Support Facility (CSF), you will perform an investigation regarding shock testing for CubeSats, nanosatellites and components thereof. 

In particular, as an intern, you will investigate the typical CubeSat shock testing methodologies and philosophies, justifications and requirements, define requirements for a shock testing facility to meet the needs of teams participating in the programmes of the ESA Education Office, review of available shock testing equipment (instrumentation, shock table types, actuators etc.), design of a (partially) bespoke shock testing facility based on available elements and perform key parameter identification, trade-offs and cost estimations to inform the CSF team on the potential solutions for a shock testing facility.

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: Knowledge on space systems engineering / subsystems and knowledge on concurrent engineering would be an asset.

2) Topic 2: Knowledge in CAD Design, knowledge of technical/manufacturing drawing, knowledge on mechanical testing for space systems and basic knowledge on CubeSat mechanical design would be an asset.

3) Topic 3: Knowledge on mechanical testing for space systems - in particular shock testing and basic knowledge on CubeSat mechanical design would be an asset.