Our team and mission

This position is based at the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) – Noordwijk, Netherlands

Under the direct authority of the LEO Exploration Group, the Columbus 2030 Engineering Team shall:

• Lead the development and delivery to schedule and budget of ISS system and facility evolutions and enhancements (e.g. ETC replacement, Columbus modernisation);
• Lead the development and delivery to schedule and budget of exploration technology demonstration systems (e.g. ANITA-2, E4D) to be flown aboard the ISS;
• Manage the installation and use of the European Robotic Arm (ERA) aboard the ISS;
• Provide integration and sustaining engineering support to maintain ISS operations including procurement of all the hardware required to support the sustainability of the on-orbit infrastructure of ESA systems and facilities including ACLS and NASA barter elements (e.g. Nodes, Cupola, MELFI);
• Support the resolution of anomalies of ESA’s on-orbit ISS infrastructure and facilities;
• Identify and, where agreed, execute engineering activities related to ISS lifetime extension.

For further information visit our web site: http://www.esa.int

Field(s) of activity for the internship

Topic: System Software Processes

Requirements play an essential role in space systems engineering. Requirements are often recorded in Word and PDF documents which need to be updated regularly, versioned, and carefully structured to ensure that all persons working on the project know the latest state of the project’s requirements (i.e., the requirements baseline).

As space systems engineering practices and tools evolve, requirement management is increasingly shifting to the use of online databases which support collaborative editing. Evolving systems engineering standards and the emergence of model-based systems engineering (MBSE) practices are driving a transition from labour-intensive “document-centric” requirements management to “database-centric” requirements management.

This project will focus on developing software tools to extract, process, and import large portions of the engineering requirements which form the requirements baselines for the operation and development of ESA’s Columbus module on board the International Space Stations. The processed requirements data will be imported into an existing ESA database. The existing database has robust application programming interfaces (APIs). As such, this project will also include the development of tools seeking to automate various aspects of requirements management such as the automation of workflows, the analysis of requirements data, generation of reports and control of requirements changes.

Behavioural competencies

Result Orientation
Operational Efficiency
Fostering Cooperation
Relationship Management
Continuous Improvement
Forward Thinking

Education

You must have student status and be enrolled at university for the entire duration of the internship. You should preferably be in your final or second to last year of a university course at master’s level in a technical or scientific discipline.

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.

Additional Requirements:

• Computer Science or General Engineering Background
• Knowledge and background of automated software processes and workflows
• Knowledge of the Confluence suit and MSTeams/Sharepoint considered an advantage