Postdoc: Radio-Science & Orbit Determination with Tudat

Delft University of Technology (TU Delft); Delft; On-site; EUR 55,000 - 75,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Excellent pension (ABP)

Flexible working week

Educational opportunities

Job summary

TU Delft is seeking a researcher/developer to advance Tudat (Tudat) with radio-science applications for planetary missions. You will develop Tudat's C++ core and Python interfaces, extend estimation pipelines, and coordinate with project partners to enable high-fidelity orbit propagation and data fitting using real tracking data.

The role includes leading mission applications, contributing to publications, and building FAIR/open science workflows.

Qualifications

• PhD in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Physics, Astronomy or similar.

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain Tudat’s C++ core and Python interfaces with performance and robustness.
• Extend radio-science estimation pipelines: observation models and dynamical models.
• Enhance background models and data ingestion interfaces for missions.
• Lead applications to selected missions and datasets with validation cases.
• Publish scientific results describing the platform and radio-science workflows.
• Build end-to-end workflows ensuring FAIR/open science with version-controlled analyses.
• Write documentation, tutorials, and developer guides; assist users via channels.

Skills

C++

Python

Git & CI

Testing & code review

Astrodynamics

Tudat usage

Education

PhD in Aerospace Engineering

Tools

Tudat

Job description

TU Delft is seeking a researcher/developer to advance Tudat (Tudat) with radio-science applications for planetary missions. You will develop Tudat's C++ core and Python interfaces, extend estimation pipelines, and coordinate with project partners to enable high-fidelity orbit propagation and data fitting using real tracking data.

The role includes leading mission applications, contributing to publications, and building FAIR/open science workflows.