Our team and mission

The ESA Academy is the agency’s overarching programme for university student space projects and training opportunities.
Through a tailored transfer of space know-how and interaction with space professionals, the Academy takes students through a learning path that complements their academic education.

The ESA Academy programme comprises of three main segments:

• An academic TRAINING programme which offers individuals a portfolio of highly qualifying training sessions covering a wide range of space-related topics offered by professional experts;
• A PROJECTS programme, allowing teams to design build, test and operate small satellites and payload experiments on space-related platforms, among others through the ESA Academy Experiments programme;
• An ENGAGEMENT pillar, providing students and young professionals with scholarship, conference and networking opportunities.

Specifically, ‘Fly Your Satellite!’ is a programme which supports educational satellite teams developing CubeSats and other small satellites, with the design, test, launch and operations of their satellite missions. ‘Fly Your Satellite!’ includes three elements: the full ‘Fly Your Satellite!’ programme supporting teams from design until operations; ‘Design Booster!’ supporting teams with their early design phase in a fixed duration programme; and ‘Test Opportunities’ supporting teams with the execution of an environmental test in the Education Office’s CubeSat Support Facility.

During the projects, a strong emphasis is placed on regular interaction with professional engineers and scientists through engineering documentation, frequent meetings, workshops and technical reviews. The outcome of participation is a unique practical experience and training with ESA and its partners that complements and enhances university students’ academic journey.

The ESA Academy, as part of the ESA Education Office, operates in close cooperation with specialists from ESA and industry, from university departments and other research organisations. ESA’s ESEC-Galaxia site in Belgium hosts several facilities tailored for the ESA Academy, including the CubeSat Support Facility, a cleanroom hosting integration and test equipment for CubeSats and experiments, and the Training and Learning Facility, a state-of-the art training room also equipped to support Concurrent Engineering workshops.

Information on the activities of the ESA Academy can be found at https://www.esa.int/Education/ESA_Academy.

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

Field(s) of activity/research for the traineeship

As a Young Graduate Trainee, you will be involved in the activities related to educational satellite missions, primarily the elements of the Fly Your Satellite! Programme.

In particular under the supervision of the ESA project manager activities may include:

• Providing support to the university teams participating in the programme through supporting their technical and project development. This may include project planning and progress tracking as well as participation in systems engineering activities, such as requirements management and system modelling as well as the review of project technical documentation.
• Supporting the overall running of the programme, including assistance in the preparation and execution of training and workshops, project reviews, test campaigns, launch campaigns etc.
• Liaising with ESA experts for technical reviews of the project teams, in support of test activities and with the delivery of training.
• Assisting with the development of the programme, including the development of guidelines and documentation.
• Assisting in the development of test support equipment and/or processes for use in the CubeSat Support Facility.
• Along with the student teams you will learn about the processes needed to design, build, test, launch and operate a satellite, including engineering, project and legal steps.

You will also be involved in additional managerial tasks to further develop the programme, as well as have the opportunity to contribute to other student activities and projects of the ESA Academy, as required.

Technical competencies

Behavioural competencies

Result Orientation

Operational Efficiency

Fostering Cooperation

Relationship Management

Continuous Improvement

Forward Thinking

Education

You should have just completed, or be in the final year of your Master’ s degree in engineering (or closely related discipline) with a strong background in space technology and satellite systems engineering.

Additional requirements

You should have good interpersonal and communication skills and should be able to work in a multicultural environment, both independently and as part of a team.

Noting the location of this role, and the need to be flexible with daily travel due to participation in campaigns and training delivery it is strongly recommended that you have access to a car for the duration of this appointment.

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.

During the interview motivation and overall professional perspective/career goals will also be explored.