Our team and mission

This position is based at the European Space Astronomy Centre  (ESAC) - Near Madrid, Spain

Under the direct authority of the Directorate of Science, the Head of the Science Operations Department is responsible for the development of the science operations infrastructure under the Directorate responsibility, the operation of the Directorate’s missions once successfully commissioned, and the curation of all scientific data in the missions’ legacy phase. These responsibilities are discharged in full coordination with the Directorate’s Departments and Offices and as appropriate, with the Directorate of Operations (D/OPS). 

In implementing its duties, the Science Operations Department is supported by the:  

• Mission Management and Science Operations Division (SCI-SO); 
• Science Operations Development Division (SCI-SD); 
• Data Science and Archives Division (SCI-SA). 

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

Field(s) of activity for the internship

Topic of the internship: Data tutorials for the JUICE monitoring and navigation cameras

The ESA JUpiter ICy moons Explorer (JUICE) mission launched in April 2023 is currently on a journey to the Jupiter system. Together with a multitude of scientific instruments, the spacecraft is carrying facility cameras, i.e. cameras that are not part of the science payload but are instead designed to monitor the deployment of spacecraft elements or as part as Juice’s advanced navigation system. Despite their purpose not being science oriented, they can be operated during planetary close encounters. On the 19-20 August 2024, Juice successfully executed a Lunar-Earth Gravity Assist (LEGA), major event and first of its kind. During these two days, the Navigation Camera (NavCam) and the JUICE Monitoring Cameras (JMC) acquired data of the Moon and the Earth. The data, processed by the JUICE Science Operations Centre (SOC), are now available in the Planetary Science Archive (PSA). 

This internship aims at evaluating and improving the data processing applied to the JMC and NavCam imagery raw data products as well as facilitating their use by the science community. JMC is a wide angle camera using a colour filter array. NavCam is a panchromatic camera with a narrower field-of-view, producing higher resolution black and white data. 

You will produce data tutorials to show users how to 

• access the archived data from the Planetary Science Archive (PSA);
• manipulate those data products, including how to calibrate them further;
• generate practical examples of data visualisations.

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.

• Interest in Planetary Sciences; 
• Experience with image processing; 
• Experience with coding (e.g. python, java); 
• Experience using Jupyter Lab;
• Experience with planetary imagery data sets;
• Good writing skills (English).