Intern in the Mission Operations Department - Astrophysics Missions Division - Spacecraft Operations

Intern in the Mission Operations Department - Astrophysics Missions Division - Spacecraft Operations

Job Requisition ID: 21082

Date Posted: 1 November 2026

Closing Date: 30 November 2026 23:59 CET/CEST

Publication Method: External Only

Type of Appointment (learn more):

Directorate: Operations

Workplace:

Darmstadt, DE

Location

ESOC, Darmstadt, Germany

Our team and mission

You will join the Flight Control Team of the PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars mission as it completes its preparations for launch. The mission will use the planetary transit method to discover and characterise planets orbiting other stars, with particular emphasis on Earth-like planets.

Based at the European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, the Flight Control Team is responsible for preparing and conducting spacecraft operations. The team has been testing the spacecraft and validating the operational ground segment, including the mission control system, spacecraft simulator, operational procedures and interfaces needed to monitor and control the spacecraft.

The team works closely with the spacecraft manufacturer, the German Aerospace Center, flight dynamics and mission analysis specialists, and the science operations team in Spain. It brings together the contributions of these partners to plan spacecraft activities, send commands, monitor spacecraft health and respond to unexpected situations.

At the beginning of your internship, the team will be conducting an intensive simulation campaign covering both nominal operations and contingency scenarios for the launch and early orbit phase. This will be followed by spacecraft commissioning and the transition towards routine operations. You will therefore support the team during one of the most important phases of the mission and gain first-hand experience of how a spacecraft is prepared for launch and operated in space.

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

Field(s) of activity for the internship

Your main task will be to help the Flight Control Team establish a maintainable and extensible data-processing framework for routine spacecraft monitoring and operational reporting.

All telemetry received from the spacecraft and all commands sent to it are stored in a database cluster. This information can be retrieved, analysed and displayed through a web interface or through software interfaces. The European Space Operations Centre provides a common set of tools for automated monitoring, trend analysis and reporting. Before these tools can be used for spacecraft operations, however, they must be configured, tailored to the mission and validated.

You will contribute to the development of a monitoring framework that can be maintained collaboratively by the team and extended with additional spacecraft health-monitoring functions. The framework will include automated execution of monitoring tasks, configuration and change tracking, documentation, and collaborative software-development workflows. Where appropriate, you will also help define methods for testing and validating the monitoring functions before their operational use.

A secondary activity will be to configure tools for monitoring the operational ground segment. This may include monitoring the health of software processes and applications, file exchanges and telemetry database updates, as well as forwarding relevant alarms to the operations team.

You may also support other spacecraft operations preparation activities, including the development and testing of operational procedures and software scripts.

By the end of the internship, you will have gained practical experience in spacecraft telemetry monitoring, operational data analysis, software configuration management, collaborative development and the validation of tools used to operate a spacecraft.

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 university course 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.

A background in computer science, software engineering, data science or a related technical discipline would be an asset.

Practical knowledge or experience in one or more of the following areas would also be useful:

• programming in Python, including the use of data-analysis and interactive computing libraries;
• retrieving and processing data through software interfaces;
• development of web-based applications or services;
• containerised software environments;
• collaborative software development and version control;
• automated testing, continuous integration or deployment workflows;
• time-series data analysis, monitoring or data visualisation.

You are not expected to have experience in all these areas. An interest in learning new technologies and applying software-development practices in an operational environment is important.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusiveness

ESA is an equal opportunity employer, committed to achieving diversity within the workforce and creating an inclusive working environment. We therefore welcome applications from all qualified candidates irrespective of gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religious beliefs, age, disability or other characteristics.

At the Agency we value diversity, and we welcome people with disabilities. Whenever possible, we seek to accommodate individuals with disabilities by providing the necessary support at the workplace. The Human Resources Department can also provide assistance during the recruitment process. If you would like to discuss this further, please contact us via email at [email protected].

Important Information and Disclaimer

During the recruitment process, the Agency may request applicants to undergo selection tests.

The information published on ESA’s careers website regarding internship conditions is correct at the time of publication. It is not intended to be exhaustive and may not address all questions you would have.

Nationality

Please note that applications are only considered from nationals of one of the following States: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Applicants from Canada as a Cooperating State can apply as well as those from Bulgaria, Croatia and Malta as European Cooperating States (ECS).

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