Intern in the Education Office

You can choose between the following topics:

1) Topic 1: Support ESA Academy's Concurrent Engineering Training Sessions

In the frame of the ESA Academy's Training and Learning Programme, you will assist in the upgrade and improvement of the calculation sheets used in the delivery of ESA Academy's Concurrent Engineering Training Activities. The calculation sheets are from multiple domains/subsystems and are used individually by student teams to aid the design/sizing of these subsystems during the first design of the mission.

To that end, as an intern, you will be introduced to the Concurrent Engineering approach & COMET software tool, get familiar with the existing educational calculation sheets, debug and improve the calculation sheets, create user manual for each calculation sheet, expand the usability of calculation sheets, assess and evaluate the new implementations with students/colleagues and identify additional tools to support the student teams in the design/sizing of their subsystems.

If ESA Academy's Concurrent Engineering Training Session(s) will be delivered during the internship period, you will support the preparation, delivery and post-delivery activities.

2) Topic 2: Mechanical testing adapter investigation 

In support of the ESA Academy's CubeSat Support Facility (CSF), you will perform an investigation regarding test adapters used for the mechanical testing (vibration testing) of CubeSats. 

In particular, as an intern, you will investigate and understand the limitations and characteristics of currently utilized test adapters (based on previous investigations performed at the CSF) , investigate potential design solutions addressing the above limitations, investigate the suitability of commercially available test adapters, analyse potential designs/products with respect to mechanical properties and interface with the current CSF facilities., propose a test adapter for manufacture and/or purchase, potentially (time permitting) assist it the procurement and/or manufacture of the proposed test adapter and potentially (time permitting) assist in the mechanical characterization of the procured/manufactured solution.

3) Topic 3: Preliminary study for a CubeSat shock testing facility 

In support of the ESA Academy's CubeSat Support Facility (CSF), you will perform an investigation regarding shock testing for CubeSats, nanosatellites and components thereof. 

In particular, as an intern, you will investigate the typical CubeSat shock testing methodologies and philosophies, justifications and requirements, define requirements for a shock testing facility to meet the needs of teams participating in the programmes of the ESA Education Office, review of available shock testing equipment (instrumentation, shock table types, actuators etc.), design of a (partially) bespoke shock testing facility based on available elements and perform key parameter identification, trade-offs and cost estimations to inform the CSF team on the potential solutions for a shock testing facility.