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: Web Services Development for Mission Analysis

You will develop web services for mission analysis purposes, focusing on both user interface design and back-end services. The project aims to create interactive tools for use by expert and non-expert users of flight dynamics and mission analysis services. Services will be based on ESA's GODOT and MIDAS software, with deployment on ESA mission operations platforms and ESA IT virtual computing infrastructure.

Objectives
1. User Interfaces:

• Design interactive web applications to enable users to input mission data and visualize results;
• Collaborate with users for feedback and iterate on designs.

2. Back-End Services:

• Develop astrodynamics Python tools based on GODOT;
• Develop RESTful APIs to handle flight dynamics computations and integrate GODOT for mission development activities;
• Establish mission data databases and access with services.

3. Deployment:

• Set up CI/CD pipelines using GitLab for automated testing and deployment on ESA mission operations and ESA IT virtual computing infrastructure.

Skills Developed

• Web development and API design;
• Experience in astrodynamics and using ESA's GODOT software;
• Hands-on deployment and DevOps experience using GitLab CI/CD on ESA-specific environments.

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.