Intern in the Flight Programmes Operational Safety and Launch System licensing Office

Our team and mission

This position is based at the ESA HQ - Paris, France

The mission of the Space Transportation Directorate is to provide and implement a space transportation strategy that gives institutional and commercial actors in ESA’s Member States an autonomous gateway to space and all its wonders. 

When relevant, Nuclear Power Sources have to be used in space missions to complement or replace other power sources such as batteries or solar panels. The Nuclear System Lead Team is focusing on developing an ESA capacity to launch and operate Space Systems equipped with Nuclear Power Sources from an European launcher. The emphasis of the NSL Team is therefore on the system activities focusing on the nuclear safety of the onboarding such sources, AM-241. NSL Team acts on the products developed and launched so as they comply with national and international Health and Environment regulations.

Candidates interested are encouraged to visit the ESA website: http://www.esa.int

Field(s) of activity for the internship

Topic of the internship: Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) applied to Nuclear System field / Radioisotope Power Sources

You will be asked to implement a MBSE approach (through a dedicated tool as Cameo software or equivalent) to build the allocation and traceability of the Nuclear system requirements defined for the different main manufacturers and products (Launcher vehicle, Spacecraft, Launch Range, RPS). The activity shall also permit, at the different steps of the respective developments (SRR, PDR, CDR, QR), to build the recapitulation of the established justifications and their synthesis at system level.

You will collaborate with cross-disciplinary teams to determine effective security devices suitable for space missions. You will have to structure the method guidelines document that could be used to justify the nuclear safety requirements.  

These tasks will make you address many technological fields, their state-of-the-art and have interactions with experts. Among other things, the method guidelines document will include different approaches to probabilistically assess resistance to various stresses (radiological, thermal, mechanical, etc) generated in accident situations. These different RAS are identified by the Space System risk analysis. 

You will report to the nuclear system engineer from STS-PF and your tasks and responsibilities will include: 

• NS Configuration management using the Cameo (or equivalent) software to trace the nuclear safety requirements (including probalistic allocations) assigned to each manufacturer and then, in the ascending phase, to aggregate the justifications progressively available;
• Collaborate with cross-disciplinary teams to determine effective Safety devices suitable for space missions, participate in their design and integration, and finally establish associated safety demonstrations;
• Document and assemble agreed methods for justifying Nuclear Safety requirements, based on a review of the state of the art of each discipline, cross-checked by interviews with experts in the field.

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 must be a university student, preferably in your final or second-to-last year of a university course at Master’s level and you need to remain 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 Member State language would be an asset.

The following background/competencies are considered as assets: 

• Nuclear safety domain;
• Ability to evolve in a multidisciplinary environment;
• Familiarity with Cameo software or similar modeling tools (Model-Based System Engineering);
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.