Internal Research Fellow (PostDoc) in Spacecraft Simulation for Integrated Mission Design

Our team and mission

You will be part of the Mission Analysis Section in the Flight Dynamics Division at the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC). This Division is a centre of technical excellence, responsible for the development, implementation and operations of mission analysis and flight dynamics for ESA missions throughout the Solar System. ESOC is responsible for spacecraft operations for ESA missions, including the development of ground systems for operations and operations preparations.

The focus of the activity is the development of solutions which can be used to support users throughout ESA and the wider ESA community. The nature of the activity is multi-domain and multi-disciplinary since the intention is to cater to a spectrum of users in spacecraft mission development, research studies and operations analysis, as well as flight dynamics and mission analysis. Part of the challenge will be to work with potential users to understand their needs.

Interested candidates are encouraged to visit the ESA website: www.esa.int
www.esa.int/About_Us/ESOC https://download.esa.int/esoc/esa_ESOC_BR_web_2015.pdf

Field(s) of activity/research for the traineeship

Spacecraft simulation is a critical aspect of mission operations preparation, spacecraft system and mission design, and analysis, as well as a valuable data source for studies and other research domains.
This research aims to complement the current operational simulators with an alternative lightweight software system, written in Python and C++, capable of performing high-fidelity, differentiable attitude and orbit control simulations of spacecraft and their environment. This new system will be user-friendly, portable and easily adaptable.
The new system could be employed for mission analysis in autonomous navigation or rendezvous scenarios, concurrent design facility studies, CubeSat design, spacecraft operations for contingency analysis, and as a source of modelling data for Al research. With relevant add-ons and interfaces, the system has the potential to become a reference tool for those cases where a full operational simulator is not required.
Building on an existing prototype based on ESA's GODOT, enabling coupled orbit and attitude simulation within any Solar System environment, the objective of this research project is to empower a community of potential users by establishing a robust simulation suite for immediate and future research, validation and operations. The domain-scope for such a simulation suite spans a considerable breadth, posing multiple applied research challenges that you will need to address in both design and implementation.

The scope might include:

• application to orbit and attitude navigation simulations for early mission studies;
• integration with study teams for onboard autonomy simulations (e.g. intelligent failure and contingency handlers);
• application to close proximity operations scenarios;
• hardware and software in the loop simulation;
• compiled common components (C++ lib) to accelerate computation;
• support for automatic differentiation throughout the framework to facilitate optimal design and sensitivity analysis.

Furthermore, by enabling AOCS simulation coupled with orbit simulation, you will support future developments in the domain of autonomous navigation (AutoNav) using lightweight simulators. The integration of the AOCS simulator into mission analysis software will allow users to evaluate overall system performance.

Complex scenarios, such as rendezvous operations with natural or artificial bodies, will also benefit from these capabilities.

Using GODOT's built-in automatic differentiation capabilities will make the tool suitable for gradient-based mission and system design optimisations prior to launch.

Overall, this work serves to lay a modern foundation for future projects by complementing ESA's existing simulation capabilities with a lightweight, user-friendly and easily adaptable system enabling multiple facets of pure basic research, initial design studies, and operational planning, design, and validation. At its core, this ease-of-adaptation coupled with excellent computational performance and built-in Autodiff capabilities form the core enabling research challenge that you will address in collaboration with early-adopting users, providing a cornerstone for future projects.

Technical competencies

Behavioural competencies

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

For more information, please refer to ESA Core Behavioural Competencies guidebook

Education

You should have recently completed, or be close to completion of a PhD in a mathematical or engineering discipline related to mathematical modelling, control systems or complex systems simulation.

Preference will be given to applications submitted by candidates who have received their PhD within the past five years.

Additional requirements

In addition to your CV and your motivation letter, please prepare a research proposal of no more than five pages. This proposal should be uploaded to the "additional documents" field of the "application information" section.

You should have:

• sound knowledge of complex systems simulations;
• strong software development skills in Python and C++;
• experience with modern software development environments, GitLab and Cl/CD.

In addition, the following would be beneficial:

• experience with one more of Kubernetes, Kafka and front-end development (framework);
• familiarity with asynchronous computing, onboard AOCS systems and software, hardware modelling and software interfaces;
• familiarity with UX principles.

You should also have good interpersonal and communication skills and should be able to work in a multi-cultural environment, both independently and as part of a team. Your motivation, overall professional perspective and career goals will also be explored during the later stages of the selection process.

The working languages of the Agency are English and French. A good knowledge of one of these is required. Knowledge of another Member State language would be an asset.