Lunar Landing Site Intern - Robotic Exploration Prep

European Space Agency - ESA; Noordwijk; On-site; EUR 12,000 - 20,000; Part time

Job summary

ESA’s Lunar Science Office in Noordwijk seeks a motivated university student for an internship focused on evaluating candidate landing sites for future robotic Moon missions, supporting PROSPECT and Argonaut programs. You will analyze remote sensing data, map hazards, and contribute to mission planning with GIS tools.

You will gain hands-on experience in lunar geology, planetary mapping, and data analysis while collaborating with an international team on exploration objectives and operational

Qualifications

• You must be a university student and enrolled for the entire duration of the internship.
• Priority given to planetary science, geology, geophysics, remote sensing, geography, physics, computer science, aerospace engineering.
• Experience with data analysis, programming, machine learning, numerical modelling or GIS would be an advantage.

Responsibilities

• Identify and map landing hazards such as impact craters, boulders, steep slopes and rough terrain.
• Geological and geomorphological mapping of candidate exploration regions.
• Analyze lunar remote sensing datasets and terrain information.
• Perform surface mobility studies and rover traverse planning using GIS.
• Develop machine learning or deep learning approaches for automated feature detection.

Skills

GIS

Data analysis

Programming

Machine learning

Remote sensing

Education

Planetary science

Geology

Geophysics

Remote sensing

Geography

Physics

Computer science

Aerospace engineering

Tools

Python

MATLAB

ArcGIS

Job description

ESA’s Lunar Science Office in Noordwijk seeks a motivated university student for an internship focused on evaluating candidate landing sites for future robotic Moon missions, supporting PROSPECT and Argonaut programs. You will analyze remote sensing data, map hazards, and contribute to mission planning with GIS tools.

You will gain hands-on experience in lunar geology, planetary mapping, and data analysis while collaborating with an international team on exploration objectives and operational