Internal Research Fellow in Planetary Protection

Our team and mission

The Research Fellow in Planetary Protection will work in close cooperation with other staff of the Independent Safety Office in the Directorate of Technology, Engineering and Quality.

The Independent Safety Office is responsible for overseeing the development, implementation, maintenance of ESA policies, requirements, standards and functional support to ESA projects for:

• Planetary Protection.
• Space Debris Mitigation.
• Nuclear Safety for applications in space.
• Re-entry safety.
• Human Spaceflight Safety.
• Europe leads the way in sustainable and responsible space exploration, with planetary protection at the core of its efforts.

You are encouraged to visit the ESA website: https://www.esa.int/

Field(s) of activity/research for the traineeship

This fellowship aims to advance the development of a risk-informed decision culture at ESA and application of probabilistic frameworks in the planetary protection domain. The overall goal is to support ESA planetary protection function on its effort to modernise current approaches with the use of new statistical models to assess biological and chemical contamination risks.

The Research Fellow in Planetary Protection primary role is to develop mathematical frameworks to be used for modelling the probability to 1) transfer harmful contamination to solar system bodies for robotic or crewed missions (or a combination of both); 2) transfer harmful contamination from outer space to Earth.

As an internal researcher, the candidate will perform research activities exploring new ways or expanding the scope of existing studies to promote the use of risk-informed decision frameworks, prediction models, AI applied to planetary protection.

Tasks include:

Support the creation of probabilistic models for planetary protection:

• Liaise with European and international partners involved in planetary protection activities, studying the current scientific data available (i.e. datamining) and identify knowledge gaps to build credible models.
• Coordinate relevant activities for modelling contamination.
• Support the definition and the development of mathematical frameworks for planetary protection.
• Communicate to the astrobiology community and provide guidance in providing useful inputs for the model.
• Integrate the data provided by multidisciplinary teams and establish the number / type of lab tests needed for model validation.

Develop new protocols, tools for planetary protection purposes:

• Develop probabilistic standards, software, procedures, processes and handbook related to planetary protection as applicable.
• Provide support for ongoing missions and use past missions’ data for developing of new models.
• Provide support for the preparation of future missions.
• Define and advise on future requirements for probabilities of contaminating celestial bodies.

Interface with partners, knowledge management and dissemination:

• Support and represent ESA within the external scientific and technological communities.
• Support and represent interests of ESA and of the planetary protection community, including organising and chairing meetings and working groups and coordinating community activities associated with probabilistic approaches and analysis.
• Actively pursue personal scientific research, using facilities within ESA centres and those accessed through partnerships with external organisations.
• Participate in relevant scientific associations and conferences.

Technical competencies

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 should have recently completed, or be close to completion of a PhD in a related technical or scientific discipline. Preference will be given to applications submitted by candidates within five years of receiving their PhD. In particular for this position, the following is required:

PhD in data or computer science, machine learning, AI, statistics, mathematics, biophysics, bioinformatics.

Additional requirements

In addition to your CV and your motivation letter, please prepare a research proposal of no more than 5 pages. This proposal should be uploaded to the "additional documents" field of the "application information" section.

You should have:

• Experience with one or more general-purpose programming languages, such as Python, and general-purpose deep learning frameworks.
• Experience with integrating multidisciplinary inputs.
• Demonstrated ability in bridging science and engineering through effective collaboration with technical scientific and engineering teams.
• Knowledge of the activities and priorities of the European Space Agency related to field of expertise.

The following will be considered as assets:

• Previous experience in cleanroom operations and cleanroom contamination control and monitoring procedures
• Understanding of contamination, contamination sources, and the effects of contamination on space hardware.

You should also have good interpersonal and communication skills and should be able to work in a multi-cultural environment, both independently and as part of a team. Your motivation, overall professional perspective and career goals will also be explored during the later stages of the selection process.

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.