Intern in the Quality Department - Space Debris Mitigation

ESA; Noordwijk; On-site; EUR 16,000 - 21,000; Part time

Job summary

ESA's Independent Safety Office in Noordwijk invites applications for an Intern in the Quality Department focused on Space Debris Mitigation. You will contribute to a suite of Python-based tools and dashboards, supporting independent safety reviews and the Zero Debris initiative.

You will gain hands-on experience with ESA data resources, work in an agile software environment, and help evolve requirements for debris mitigation across ESA projects, including exploring 2040 roadmaps and future

Qualifications

• Must be a university student, preferably in final or penultimate year at Master’s level.
• Must be enrolled at the university for the entire duration of the internship.
• Good knowledge of English (and French) is required; additional ESA languages are a plus.
• Familiarity with Python is an asset.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to the evolution of digital Python tools for space debris monitoring.
• Assist in developing an informative dashboard on ESA projects' debris risk profiles.
• Support evolution of requirements with trends, lessons, and technology roadmaps.

Skills

Python

English

French

Education

Master's degree candidate

Tools

Python tooling

Job description

Intern in the Quality Department - Space Debris Mitigation
Type of Appointment: InternDirectorate: Technology, Engineering and QualityWorkplace: Noordwijk, NLLocation: ESTEC, Noordwijk, Netherlands

Our team and mission

The Independent Safety Office is responsible for providing ESA with independent safety authority in the fields of Human Spaceflight Safety, Space Debris Mitigation and Re-entry Safety, Planetary Protection and Curation, and Nuclear Power Sources Safety.

For what concerns the field of Space Debris Mitigation and Re-entry Safety, the main functions of the Independent Safety Office include:

• defining and maintaining the ESA Space Debris Mitigation Policy, requirements, technical guidance and independent safety assessment processes;
• performing independent review and compliance assessment of ESA Projects with Space Debris Mitigation requirements;
• processing of waivers for non-compliances with the Space Debris Mitigation requirements;
• reporting on the status of implementation of Space Debris Mitigation policy for the ESA Projects;
• representing ESA in different international working groups on Space Debris Mitigation.

Field(s) of activity for the internship

The amount of space debris is increasing in such a way that, if current behaviours and trends in orbit continue, crucial orbital regions may become unusable. In response to this, ESA introduced its ‘Zero Debris approach’ to significantly limit the production of debris in Earth and Lunar orbits by 2030. As a first step, ESA's Space Debris Mitigation Policy and Requirements were updated in 2023, introducing stricter mitigation measures.

As ESA’s Technical Authority on Space Debris Mitigation, the Independent Safety Office is involved in the review of the space debris mitigation strategies for all missions at ESA. Therefore, we can evaluate the adoption of the requirements and the alignment of ESA projects with the ambitious Zero Debris goals. For each review, we prepare a detailed assessment of the status of compliance and issue recommendations to the projects on how to improve the safety and sustainability of their missions. With the introduction of the ‘Zero Debris Approach’, we have modernised such compliance analysis, with four objectives:

1. highlight driving requirements for different classes of missions;
2. improve traceability of the recommendations to the missions;
3. inform policy makers on the most critical requirements that require technology developments;
4. evaluate options for the evolution of the requirements in 2030.

As an intern, you will contribute to the evolution of a suite of digital tools, in Python, to reach such objectives by leveraging the extensive dataset of reviews conducted by our team. Thanks to the database built in the previous step, you will assess the feasibility of automating the monitoring of the space debris environment impact of the ESA fleet and of ESA projects, with the objective of developing an informative dashboard on the space debris risk profile of ESA projects.

As an intern, you will also support the work on the evolution of the requirements considering:

• trends in compliance as extracted from the computational pipeline above;
• lessons learnt from ESA research and development activities related to Zero Debris;
• emerging interest in sustainability initiatives in lunar orbit;
• initiatives on space debris mitigation on-going beyond ESA;
• formulation of future scenarios incorporating technology roadmaps (e.g. ESA Vision 2040) and other technology breakthroughs.

In performing your work, you will have the occasion to acquire:

• a multi-disciplinary, system perspective on how to tackle the space debris issue;
• hands‑on experience in the use of ESA’s tools and data resources;
• familiarity with emerging concepts in the field of space sustainability.

You will also be exposed to agile approaches for software development and involved in relevant tasks related to the normal work of the office.

Behavioural competencies

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

Education

You must be a university student, preferably in your final or second-to-last year of university course at Master's level. In addition, you must be able to prove that you will be enrolled at your university for the entire duration of the internship.

Additional requirements

• The working languages of the Agency are English and French. A good knowledge of one of these is required.
• Knowledge of another ESA Member State language is an asset.
• Familiarity and proven experience with Python is an asset.

Applicants must be eligible to access information, technology, and hardware which is subject to European or US export control and sanctions regulations.

Nationality

Please note that applications are only considered from nationals of one of the following States: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.