Our team and mission

Within the Earth Observations Projects Department, the Copernicus Sentinel Expansion missions are currently under development. One of those missions is the CHIME (Copernicus Hyperspectral Imaging Mission for the Environment). CHIME plans to carry a unique visible to shortwave infrared spectrometer to provide routine hyperspectral observations to support new and enhanced services for sustainable agricultural and biodiversity management, as well as soil property characterisation.

You will be able to join the CHIME project, participating as part of the system engineering and satellite engineering section in activities related to Onboard Satellite Artificial Intelligence Processing and the evaluation of end-to-end mission performances.

Further details on the CHIME mission can be found at:

• ESA - Copernicus Sentinel Expansion missions
• ESA - Going hyperspectral for CHIME
• The copernicus hyperspectral imaging mission for the environment (CHIME): an overview of its mission, system and planning status; SPIE Proceedings Volume 12729; 1272909 (2023) The copernicus hyperspectral imaging mission for the environment (CHIME): an overview of its mission, system and planning status
• CHIME's end to end simulator (CHEES): simulating, testing and generating hyperspectral products CHIME's end to end simulator (CHEES): simulating, testing and generating hyperspectral products | SPIE Sensors + Imaging 
• Examples for typical CHIME Level 2 products: Prototyping Vegetation Traits Models in the Context of the Hyperspectral Chime Mission Preparation | IEEE Conference Publication | IEEE Xplore , Retrieval of carbon content and biomass from hyperspectral imagery over cultivated areas - ScienceDirect 

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

Field(s) of activity for the internship

Topic of the internship: Estimation of per-pixel uncertainties

Join the Copernicus hyperspectral imaging mission for the environment (CHIME) and help turn science and engineering into reliable satellite products. You will evaluate end-to-end mission performance and develop methods to estimate per-pixel uncertainties for Level-1 and Level-2 data (for example, vegetation traits, water quality indicators, and surface reflectance).

What you will do

You will be responsible for helping to define algorithms necessary to the estimation of the estimation of per-pixel uncertainties measurement associated to level 1 and level 2 data products and for their implementation in dedicated software tool(s) to run either as standalone or as support to the OPSI and E2E. 
As part of this activity, you will contribute to the identification of the radiometric, spectral and geometric uncertainty contributors and for the propagation of such contributors in the level 1 and level 2 processing chains.

You will use the CHIME end-to-end simulator (E2E), the Observation Performance Simulator (OPSI) and/or dedicated software developed during the internship to test and validate data flow from geophysical parameters through the instrument and satellite subsystems up to the final level 2 data products, such as vegetation traits (Prototyping Vegetation Traits Models in the Context of the Hyperspectral Chime Mission Preparation | IEEE Conference Publication | IEEE Xplore, Retrieval of carbon content and biomass from hyperspectral imagery over cultivated areas - ScienceDirect)

Throughout the internship, you will have chances to interact with both the CHIME Mission Advisory Group and the industrial teams in charge of OPSI and E2E development.

If you are motivated by rigorous analysis, careful software engineering, and the satisfaction of seeing numbers you trust flow through a complete space-mission pipeline, this internship is for you.

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 studying at master’s level. In addition, you must be able to prove that you will be 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 ESA Member State language is an asset.

During the interview, your motivation for applying to this role will be explored.

You should also have an engineering background with experience in prototyping or modelling in Python or an equivalent programming language.
Familiarity with imaging spectrometry, remote sensing, and space system design basics is a plus.