Intern in the Test Facilities & Infrastructure Office, Engineering Services Section

Our team and mission

The TEC Test Facilities and Infrastructure Office is responsible for:

• defining, together with the TEC Departments and Offices, the overall laboratories governance and general processes;
• managing the facilities of the ESA/ESTEC Test Centre and all TEC laboratories with the support from all TEC departments and offices;
• managing the service contract linked to the maintenance, marketing, and sales of the ESA/ESTEC Test Centre and the service contracts of the administration and maintenance of all TEC laboratories with the support from all TEC departments and offices;
• liaising with the TEC laboratories with regards to the specialised operations service contracts managed by the TEC Departments;
• providing engineering services to all ESA laboratories including mechanical and electronic design (workshop activities), calibration/maintenance/repair for electronic equipment and metrology;
• managing, maintaining, administering, operating (when applicable), and evolving TEC’s IT related infrastructure, networks, dedicated tools, and information systems in close cooperation with the HIF/ESAIT (including ESTEC estates and FM) and ESO and managing its associated service contracts;
• leading the management and evolution of the directorate’s information security in close coordination with ESO and HIF/ESAIT to allow the proper, and adequately secured, operations of the TEC directorate;
• managing TEC’s cyber security policies, processes, and practices to support the establishment of a directorate specific cyber security framework;
• supporting D/TEC in continuously reviewing internal and external technical facilities and their deployment/use within TEC, to innovate and evolve the directorate capabilities through the strategic use of partnerships; outsourcing; and service contracts;
• maintaining the Quality Management System related to the ESA/ESTEC Test Centre, all TEC laboratories, and TEC’s IT related infrastructure; networks; dedicated tools; and information systems;
• ensuring the correct implementation (verification) of PA, QA, security, and safety requirements in the ESA/ESTEC Test Centre and in all TEC laboratories;
• managing the processes, and services (including all the related documentation and facility/system configurations) supporting the ESA/ESTEC Test Centre; all TEC laboratories; TEC’s IT related infrastructure; networks; dedicated tools; and information systems (including digitalization).

Test Centre

ESA operates a Test Centre at ESTEC, Noordwijk, The Netherlands, a unique place in Europe which is geared to perform environmental tests on large spacecraft and aerospace structures. The Test Centre includes the complete portfolio of test facilities to simulate the environmental conditions which are experienced by a spacecraft during its launch and early operation phase. This includes hydraulic and electrodynamic vibration test systems, shock test facilities, mass properties measurement facilities, electro-magnetic compatibility test facilities. Besides Europe’s largest space simulation chamber LSS and Europe’s largest reverberant acoustic noise test chamber, the Test Centre is equipped with a 6 degree of freedom hydraulic vibration test stand, a 320kN horizontal and a 640kN vertical electrodynamic shaker system and a large EMC test chamber. The set of facilities is complemented by a medium sized thermal vacuum chamber (Phenix), a small vacuum chamber with high solar flux simulation (VTC 1.5), a 80kN vibrations system and shock test benches for subsystem and equipment testing. 
For more information please refer to: ESTEC Test Centre

Part of the Test Centre is the Engineering Services Section. The group encompasses multidisciplinary engineering domains, ranging from mechanical, electrical and electronic design up to metrology. Calibrations of electrical equipment and manufacturing are also areas covered by the Engineering Services Section, whose mission is to support the Test Centre and its customers, the ESTEC laboratories as well as the ESA programmes.

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

Field(s) of activity for the internship

Topic of the internship: Mechanical Design

The positioning of equipment inside a thermal vacuum chamber is important, especially when sun simulation is required. Adjustment during a test can be done only if a remotely controlled moving platform is available. VTC1.5, the smallest vacuum chamber of the Test Centre is already equipped with a translation stage. Still, it lacks the possibility to rotate, continuously or only partially, the test specimen. Such capability can be achieved with a rotary table.

The proposed scope of this internship is then to get familiar with the existing translation stage (e.g. how it is operated, what is the mounting interface), collect and consolidate the requirements for the rotary table and finally design it.
As part of the activity, if time allows, is the coordination of the manufacturing of the designed parts with the electromechanical workshop of the Engineering Services Section and their integration.

Keywords:
Mechanical Design
Laboratory hands-on

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.

Knowledge and background in the use of 3D mechanical CAD tools is an asset as well as hands-on experience in a laboratory.