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Intern in the LEO Exploration Group

Porz-Wahn

  • Organization: ESA - European Space Agency
  • Location: Porz-Wahn
  • Grade: Internship - Internship
  • Occupational Groups:
    • Outer space and satellite technology
    • Civil Society and Local governance
    • Scientist and Researcher
    • Innovations for Sustainable Development
  • Closing Date: Closed

 

Internship Opportunity in the Directorate of Human and Robotic Exploration Programmes.

 

ESA is an equal opportunity employer, committed to achieving diversity within the workforce and creating an inclusive working environment. We therefore welcome applications from all qualified candidates irrespective of gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, beliefs, age, disability or other characteristics. Applications from women are encouraged.

 

Location

Porz-Wahn

Our team and mission

The Human and Robotic Exploration Programmes, the Leader of the LEO Exploration Group shall manage the Agency’s human spaceflight activities in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and in particular as ESA ISS Programme Manager interface with the NASA ISS Programme and other NASA Managers for negotiations of Technical Understandings as well as represent ESA at the ISS Partner Multilateral Space Station Control Board (SSCB); Chair the Exploitation Management Board (EMB) in accordance with its charter, ensuring that ISS Programme change proposals are responded to in a correct and timely manner; Act as the operational service provider towards the Research and Utilisation Group to ensure timely, efficient and successful implementation of the ISS Utilisation Programme; Define the Operational Sustaining Engineering functional requirements to support the operations of the Columbus System, Infrastructure and Payloads; among other tasks.

 

Within the XR-Lab, as an intern, you will work with Virtual Reality tools for astronaut training and space exploration. The potential usage of XR (Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality or Mixed Reality) and associated haptic devices at EAC are suitable for EVA, robotics, LUNA analogue facility and onboard ISS purposes requiring incremental preparation, prototyping and tests of tools helping the crew and ground support personal to design, prepare or complement space training. XR at EAC is also used in support of mission design for various missions (Low Earth Orbit, EL3 on the Moon, Gateway around the Moon, or Mars). When used in weightlessness conditions, XR hardware and software necessitate specific research, modification, tests or ground up design to ensure full realism, functionality, and robust tracking in Zero-G conditions.

 

Therefore, the XR-lab is looking for 2 candidates:
1. The first project is software based and intends to improve the JIVE software currently in use at NASA and ESA (VR) and support its transition to MR.
2. The second project will support the design, prototyping and test of a custom-made HMD (Head Mounted Display) specially developed to be used in microgravity conditions.

 

Both internships will be also focused on analyzing the current tools and XR-Lab on-going projects, complement them (Unreal Engine based) and create/modify relevant additional tools or models in close cooperation with the XR-Lab team.

 

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: JIVE (Astronaut Teaching Tool in VR) to transition to MR (Mixed Reality)

The first project is software based and intends to improve JIVE software and assess the benefit of Mixed Reality (MR). The Joint Investigation into VR for Education (JIVE) is a VR application that explores the best combination of tools to aid robotics instructors deliver astronaut lessons. It is a collaborative project between EAC’s XR Lab and NASA JSC. Currently, the software has been delivered to NASA and is in use for Astronaut Training. At ESA, astronaut will be train using JIVE in mid-2023, combining JIVE and the classic Dynamic Skills Trainer (DST) at EAC. This current position will improve JIVE following NASA feedback of astronaut training and as part of necessary improvement process and initiate the usage of Mixed Reality for JIVE to better improve haptics and enhance the overall immersive experience. The project aims at deploying JIVE MR on Varjo XR-3 device.

 

2) Topic 2: Custom-made HMD (Head Mounted Display) for microgravity conditions

As part of its mission to promote the use of immersive technologies in space, the EAC XR Lab is investigating key technologies that needs adaptation to weightlessness. For instance, most eXtended Reality (XR) devices relies on 6 degrees-of-freedom motion tracking, which in turn relies on sensing the gravity acceleration vector. Consequently, commercial off-the-shelf XR devices are known not to work onboard the International Space Station without heavy modifications. The XR Lab proposes to improve on this status-quo by demonstrating a purely optical tracking technology. The goal is therefore to develop and integrate a low-latency optical tracking technology into a custom-made standalone VR headset. This internship would deal with the refinement of an internal technology demonstrator.

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:
JIVE MR project:

  • Knowledge and background in skills relating to VR/AR development or better MR
  • Relevant programming capability in this area and with relevant tools (e.g. Unreal/Unity)
  • Proficiency in the use of Microsoft Office
  • Once the JIVE VR improvements are implemented and MR has been implemented, you will further interact with the rest of the XR team to best test the device with other VR/AR projects.

 

2) Topic 2:
VR 0-G custom-made HMD project:

  • Computer Vision software development
  • Embedded systems design (UART and SPI interfaces)
  • ARM-based software development
  • Signal processing and Control Theory (Kalman filtering, digital filter design, sensor data fusion)
  • In addition, knowledge related to XR middleware like Vulkan, OpenVR, and OpenXR are considered a plus.
  • Prior development experience with Nvidia Jetson products is also desirable.

Other information

For behavioural competencies expected from ESA staff in general, please refer to the ESA Competency Framework.

 

If you require support with your application due to a disability, please email contact.human.resources@esa.int.

Internships can take place remotely, on-site or partially on-site depending on the pandemic situation, and in line with the relevant Establishment’s policy (e.g. possible Green Pass requirement) applicable at the time of starting the internship.

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Please note that applications are only considered from nationals of one of the following States: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Nationals from Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia, as Associate Member States, or Canada as a Cooperating State, can apply as well as those from Bulgaria and Cyprus as European Cooperating States (ECS).

This vacancy is now closed.
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