Intern in the Mission Analysis Section, Safety Analysis for In-orbit Servicing Missions

Our team and mission

This position is based at the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) - Darmstadt, Germany

Under the direct authority of the Director of Operations, the Ground Systems Engineering and Innovation Department is responsible for all the ground systems engineering and support activities required to support mission operations and implement innovation.
The Head of the Ground Systems Engineering and Innovation Department maintains and manages a full level of competences, technologies and services in all engineering disciplines related to ground systems, infrastructure, technology evolution and Engineering R&T and innovation. The department provides expert support in these areas to the Directorate of Operations for all current and potential missions and leads, in the role of architect, ground systems evolution and innovation implementation in the infrastructure. The Department is furthermore responsible for the overall technical standardisation coordination for the ground segment.
 
Candidates interested are encouraged to visit the ESA website: http://www.esa.int

Field(s) of activity for the internship

Topic of the internship: Safety Analysis for In-orbit Servicing Missions

In-orbit servicing missions are in rapid development around the globe. ESA plays an active role by supporting the development of missions, technologies and safety regulations. A key safety challenge is the analysis of the risk of inadvertent collision. Typically, collision statistics are assessed with the Monte Carlo method. Its main drawback is the computational time, requiring large number of samples to give confidence in small probabilities.
In this internship, safety aspects shall be investigated via an improved methodology. First, dynamical models well-suited for close proximity operations (e.g., Clohessy-Wiltshire, Yamanaka-Ankersen, relative orbital elements, …) shall be implemented into the C++/Phthon based flight dynamics infrastructure GODOT/MIDAS. Then, a fast method to propagate the uncertainty shall be implemented, e.g., using GODOT's implementation of automatic differentiation. If relevant, higher order methods will be envisaged. The next step shall be the estimation of collision probabilities, which involves computing the intersection of ellipsoids. The results shall be validated against those of the Monte Carlo method with full dynamics. Numerical examples taken from ongoing ESA missions shall be analysed and compared.
Time permitting, the next step would be to optimise a sequence of manoeuvres subject to the safety constraint by applying stochastic optimisation techniques.

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.