Intern in the Deep Space & External Services Section, Mission Operations Department

Our team and mission

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

Under the direct authority of the Head of the Mission Operations Department, the Head of the Ground Facilities Operations Division manages, operates and maintains the Telemetry, Tracking and Command (TT&C) stations of the ESA tracking station network ( ESTRACK) , ensures its integrity, and interfaces with other operational entities for the provision of non- ESA TT&C station support. The Head of Division specifies the user requirements for all ground facilities in support of missions and validates all related equipment before operational use. The Head of Division is responsible for the management, operation and maintenance of the Operations Control Centre facilities at ESOC, and for providing station and network support to other agencies and external customers as required. The Head of Division is also responsible for the operational communications and computer systems as well as the local health/safety and security at all the grounds stations of the ESTRACK network.

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

Behavioural competencies

Field(s) of activity for the internship

You can choose between the following topics:
 
1) Topic 1:

In the context of the ESA Special Mission Infrastructure Lab Environment (https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Operations/Want_to_SMILE) the backend of an amateur station should be migrated to an amateur station located in Kiruna Sweden in a performance oriented way.  

The existing backend should be enhanced and adapted from a station located in ESOC to an amateur station located in Kiruna Sweden. The existing interfaces to a schedular and the monitoring and control interface shall be adapted to operate the Reindeer station in Kiruna.  

 
2) Topic 2: 

In the context of the ESA Special Mission Infrastructure Lab Environment (https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Operations/Want_to_SMILE) it shall be investigated if it is possible to add VHF to ESOC-2 SMILE station.  

The existing ESOC-2 station shall be extended to VHF. The internship shall define all steps that need to be performed to add VHF support. At the end the cost as well as the manpower and activities required to perform this upgrade shall be presented as well as possible Cubesats that could be supported in addition by SMILE. 

3) Topic 3: 

In the context of the ESA Special Mission Infrastructure Lab Environment (https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Operations/Want_to_SMILE) GNU radio flowgraphs for UHF Satellite uplink and encoding should be developed in a performance oriented way. The flowgraphs should be configurable for various missions and provide data interfaces to the users.

Furthermore the performance and possible improvements should be investigated. This should be an enhancement to an internship held in 2024 for UHF reception and decoding.

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.

Knowledge of Python 

Knowledge of Signal Processing in digital domain 

Knowledge of GNU Radio is an asset 

A Radio Amateur Certificate is an asset