Planetary Protection Engineer

Thales; France; À distance; EUR 40 000 - 60 000; Plein temps

Résumé du poste

A leading aerospace manufacturing company is seeking a Planetary Protection Engineer to ensure biological safety in space missions. This role involves studying mission requirements, calculating contamination requirements, and providing engineering support for space projects. Candidates should have a Master’s degree related to microbiology or engineering, with strong skills in communication and teamwork. Opportunities for personal development and travel are provided.

Prestations

Career development opportunities

Mobility policy for career growth

Qualifications

• Fluent English (spoken and written).
• Organized and methodical with strong communication skills.
• Willingness to learn and face new challenges.

Responsabilités

• Study mission requirements and identify Planetary Protection implications.
• Calculate Planetary Protection requirements and prepare related specifications.
• Supervise and provide Planetary Protection engineering support.

Connaissances

Microbiology fundamentals

Organic chemistry

Materials science

Excel proficiency

Formation

Master degree in microbiology, biotechnology, aerospace engineering, chemical engineering, materials engineering or pure chemistry

Description du poste

Overview

A Joint Venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), Thales Alenia Space is a global space manufacturer delivering high-tech solutions for telecommunications, navigation, Earth Observation, environmental management, exploration, science and orbital infrastructures. We serve governments, institutions, space agencies, and telecommunications operators to enable Space to Connect, Secure & Defend, Observe & Protect, Explore, Travel & Navigate. We are looking for a Planetary Protection Engineer.

This position focuses on all activities related to the Planetary Protection Engineering discipline. Planetary protection aims to prevent biological contamination of both the Earth and other celestial bodies, ensuring that space missions do not carry terrestrial organisms to other planets, moons, or bodies (forward contamination) and that extraterrestrial samples do not return unknown and potentially harmful biological materials to Earth (backward contamination).

As a Planetary Protection Engineer, you will work within the Engineering Directorate, providing technical support to projects with both manned and unmanned scientific missions. You will progressively be involved and required to:

Responsibilities

• Study mission requirements, identify Planetary Protection implications and derive higher level planetary protection requirements
• Calculate Planetary Protection requirements and prepare related requirements specifications
• Assess impacts of organic and microbiological contamination requirements on spacecraft design, manufacturing, assembly, testing, launch and mission phases; plan activities to meet mission needs related to the discipline
• Interact with all engineering disciplines, as well as with manufacturing, quality and assembly and integration departments to ensure consistency between flight hardware design and Planetary Protection requirements
• Supervise and provide Planetary Protection engineering support for Bioburden assay processes of microbiological laboratory and Bioburden reduction procedures of AIT (Assembly Integration and Testing) on spacecraft hardware
• Calculate Microbial Contamination surface density on spacecraft materials starting from Bioburden assay data
• Prepare Microbial Contamination Budgets based on the hardware structure of the spacecraft under development
• Prepare Microbial Contamination test plans based on the activities schedule and development plan of typical and specific space systems
• Assess sterilization processes and materials compatibility with sterilization agents
• Perform liquid compatibility analyses with spacecraft materials
• Supervise aseptic operations execution in AIT
• Coordinate and train personnel working in Bioburden controlled and aseptic environments
• Ensure materials, processes and sub-assemblies compatibility with mission requirements in terms of ground and space environmental effects, storage and launcher requirements
• Evaluate materials properties in terms of contamination emission on-ground and in-orbit and the related impact on spacecraft design
• Evaluate chemical analyses (e.g., FT-IR, GC-MS, microscopy)
• Perform high-precision cleaning activities to remove contaminants on spacecraft elements and conduct related cleanliness inspections
• Carry out R&D activities pertaining to the discipline

All these activities will be carried out on ESA projects and for NASA, implying the use of two related different standardizations.

Key duties

• High knowledge of microbiology fundamentals
• High level knowledge in chemistry focusing on organic chemistry and materials science (non-metallic materials)
• Basic duties in chemical analyses results and reports evaluation
• Good knowledge of satellite architecture and relevant main subsystems
• Good knowledge of organization and follow-on of R&D and laboratory activities
• Good level in documents and presentation preparation
• High level knowledge in Excel

Skills, experience and qualifications required

• Master degree in microbiology, biotechnology, aerospace engineering, chemical engineering, materials engineering or pure chemistry
• Fluent English (spoken and written)
• Organized and methodical with strong communication skills
• Strong teamworking capabilities and customer orientation
• Willingness to learn and face new challenges
• Available for business travel in Italy and abroad
• Innovative mindset and problem-solving abilities
• Knowledge of ECSS-U-ST-20C, ECSS-Q-ST-70-01C and IEST-STD-CC1246E is an asset

At Thales Alenia Space we provide CAREERS and not only jobs. With about 8,900 employees in 10 countries and 17 sites in Europe plus a plant in the US, our mobility policy enables employees to develop their careers at home and abroad. Thales Alenia Space sees space as a new horizon, helping to build a better, more sustainable life on Earth #SpaceForLife. Great journeys start here—apply now!