Intern in the Mechanical Systems Department, Regenerative Life Support Systems

Our team and mission

The Optics, Robotics and Life Sciences Division is responsible for the technical and strategic management in the following space segment domains at subsystem and instrument level:

• Optical systems: design, engineering and verification in all optical related areas, including optical component technology, micro-optics, fibre and passive integrated optics; spectro-radiometric imaging instruments in the x-ray, ultra- violet, visible and infrared region; optical metrology, and space micro-nano technology systems, stray-light analysis and verification. Calibration and verification of optical payloads, covering the definition, procurement and commissioning of Optical Ground Support Equipment (OGSE). In orbit commissioning of optical payloads. Measurement of optical properties of key optical components by devising ad-hoc measurements in the Optical and Optoelectronics Laboratory (OOEL);
• Optoelectronics: laser systems and sensors, LIDAR and laser ranging systems, including optical metrology and time and frequency distribution, photo-detectors and focal plane technologies for the x-ray, ultra-violet, visible and infrared range; photonics technologies and application, including integrated and fibre optics, RF photonics, micro-nano-photonics, opto-pyrotechnics, fibre sensors, non-linear optics, superconductor technology and optical atomic clocks; optical communication technologies and systems, optical communication links and optical payloads; optoelectronics/photonics for spacecraft applications; quantum technologies including quantum devices, metrology, sensing, quantum key distribution and cold atom interferometry;
• Optical chain architecture: design, analysis, and technical assessment of optical instruments, subsystems, detection chains systems and focal plane instrumentation, optical communication systems for classical and quantum communications, time and frequency transfer, intersatellite ranging and similar end-to-end systems;
• Automation and robotics: space automation and robotic systems, including planetary (surface, sub-surface and aerial) robotics probes, space robot payloads and their control systems, space laboratory automation, human-robot- interaction, tele-robotics in manned and unmanned missions, as well as automation and robotics technology for ground MAIT;
• Life & physical sciences instrumentation: technologies needed for planetary exploration missions and for life and physical sciences experiments in space, as well as technologies needed for life support, crew health and habitability of manned missions, and In-Situ Resources Utilisation;

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

Field(s) of activity for the internship

Topic of the internship: Regenerative Life Support Systems for Future Exploration Missions

Future crewed missions to Mars will require considerable amounts of water, oxygen and nutritional food and will generate significant amounts of waste, with limited or no opportunity for Earth resupply. To enable such missions, it is therefore imperative to aim for enhanced autonomy. One such solution is the use of regenerative technologies to recycle crew waste, revitalize the air and produce water and food.

For more than 30 years, ESA has been active in the field of regenerative life support systems. MELiSSA (Micro-Ecological Life Support System Alternative) is the European project of circular life support systems. Inspired by terrestrial ecosystems, it was established to gain knowledge on regenerative systems, aiming at the highest degree of autonomy and consequently at producing food, water, and oxygen from mission wastes. This is often called Functional Ecology. Based on the collaboration of a large European industrial and academic consortium, MELiSSA is a pioneering effort and has contributed significantly to our understanding of how transformation processes can be integrated into circular systems.

To reach this objective, the MELiSSA project generated the concept of a “loop”, inspired from a natural ecosystem and based on five interconnected compartments (waste degrading and transformation bioreactors; 2 compartments concomitantly in charge of oxygen production, water recycling and edible microalgae / higher plant production; a compartment with crew as a food, water and air consumer and producer of metabolic waste streams). As a part of the development of the project, a MELiSSA Pilot Plant (MPP) laboratory has been set up at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. The role of the MPP is to demonstrate the feasibility, reliability, and robustness of the MELiSSA loop concept and systemic approach. For cost and safety reasons, demonstration is today performed with a mock-up crew of rats but in the next development steps, the MPP ambitions to transition to a human-rated facility.

The elaboration and design of a circular system such as the MELiSSA loop requires a system engineering approach and an independent procedure to evaluate and trade-off the possible system architectures. In the frame of MELiSSA, ESA has developed the ALiSSE (Advanced Life Support System Evaluator) methodology and associated software tool, based on a set of predefined criteria: mass, energy and power, crew time, efficiency, risk for human, reliability and sustainability. 

In the frame of this internship, you will contribute to the system engineering activities of the MELiSSA project by using the ALiSSE methodology and recently upgraded ALiSSE software tool for different exploration mission scenarios (e.g., Mars transit mission, evolution of the MELiSSA Pilot Plant to a human-rated facility) and different life support system architectures. The work will also assess the impact of integrating plastic waste degradation in the MELiSSA loop, including state-of-the-art of the available technologies, pathway study for synthesis of bioproducts as building blocks for space applications, evaluation of the degrees of freedom and ALiSSE trade-off and evaluation.

You can find more information on the following website: Melissa Foundation

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 educational knowledge in systems engineering, aerospace engineering.