Our team and mission

The Space Debris Office is a part of the Space Safety Programme Office in the Directorate of Operations and constitutes the focal point for ESA space debris activities.

The Space Debris Office is coordinating the Agency’s space debris research activities, is responsible for all space debris related operational and analysis services in support of ESA missions in all phases, and for ESA’s cooperation on space debris topics at inter-agency level. The work of the Space Debris Office is based on a large set of operational and scientific analysis software that are developed, maintained, and operated under its control.

The related activities of the office cover:

• characterisation of the space debris environment and its evolution through modelling and acquisition of observations
• impact risk analysis
• space debris mitigation and environment capacity
• collision risk assessment and collision avoidance manoeuvre planning
• re-entry forecasts and re-entry risk predictions
• maintenance of a database on objects in space
• outreach and raising awareness on space debris matters, e.g. through preparation of environment reports

Activities also include deep involvement in ESA’s “Zero Debris” approach through developing technologies and conducting studies, as well as standardisation activities. Further, the office has a key role in leading all space debris activities in ESA’s Space Safety Programme, i.e. development, demonstration, test and validation of technologies addressing instrumentation, data processing, risk modelling and assessments, automated collision avoidance, environment sustainability and impact assessments, and development of related small missions.

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

Field(s) of activity/research for the traineeship

You are expected to support missions and projects in all phases in implementing space debris mitigation measures. You will be working with the Debris Risk Assessment and Mitigation Analysis (DRAMA) tool-suite, the Programme for Radar and Optical Observation Forecasting (PROOF), or ESA’s space debris reference model MASTER. A special focus will be on further developing the support in addressing ESA’s Zero Debris approach through updated models, tools, and processes.

You will be also involved in operating the Debris Mitigation Facility (DMF) that is completing the development in the Operations Directorate in 2024. The DMF aims to provide a model-based approach to risk assessment for system designers and operators. With that work you will contribute to improving and designing novel techniques in the verification of compliance with the space debris mitigation guidelines and standards. You will be involved in related assessments of ESA or third-party missions in different development phases.

You will have the possibility to contribute to activities in the Space Safety Programme related to different aspects of space debris observation and mitigation, including also working on small missions and projects under development, such as addressing re-entry safety, space-based optical observation of space debris, coordination of spacecraft manoeuvres, laser tracking of space debris, or deploying a foil-based impact detector.

You will work in a small team on activities described above, which are coordinated by the Office, and will with that have the opportunity to actively contribute to on-going projects and research activities, to develop new tools, to present results to an international community, and to be involved in operational activities such as collision avoidance and re-entry predictions.

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 a technical or scientific descipline.

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.

You should have a good knowledge of orbital mechanics and mathematics in general, should be familiar with Linux operating environments, and with scientific programming (e.g. programming in Python, while knowledge of Java, C++, or FORTRAN is an additional asset).

A good and demonstrated experience in system and/or software engineering, a spirit for defining, organising and following up study work in distributed teams, and proven organisation and documentation skills will be considered as assets as well. A basic knowledge of project management is expected.

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.