Lunar Navigation & PNT Research Intern

EU Satellite Centre (SatCen); Noordwijk; On-site; EUR 12,000 - 19,000; Full time

Job summary

ESA's ESTEC internship invites university students to join an internal R&D group dedicated to lunar and Martian navigation system engineering, with a strong NovaMoon mission focus on navigation signal monitoring, time transfer, and differential corrections.

You will review advanced techniques, help develop software tools and simulations, participate in hands-on lab activities, and document results for the engineering team. English or French proficiency is required; Python knowledge is an asset.

Qualifications

• University student in final or penultimate year, enrolled for the entire duration of the internship.
• Good knowledge of English or French; ability to work in either language is required.

Responsibilities

• Review state-of-the-art time-transfer techniques, navigation signal monitoring strategies, and differential correction methods for lunar navigation missions such as NovaMoon.
• Contribute to the development of ESA software tools and simulation capabilities, including SDR receivers for signal processing and positioning, timing engines.
• Participate in hands-on laboratory activities to design and set up a representative testbed aligned with the simulation environment.
• Plan and conduct a test campaign to evaluate system performance under laboratory conditions.
• Document the test approach and results, and present findings to the engineering team.

Skills

Satellite navigation systems

Position estimation

Sensor fusion

Signal processing

GNSS receivers

Software-defined radio

Python

Education

Master's student (final or penultimate year)

Job description

ESA's ESTEC internship invites university students to join an internal R&D group dedicated to lunar and Martian navigation system engineering, with a strong NovaMoon mission focus on navigation signal monitoring, time transfer, and differential corrections.

You will review advanced techniques, help develop software tools and simulations, participate in hands-on lab activities, and document results for the engineering team. English or French proficiency is required; Python knowledge is an asset.