Intern in the Space Safety Programme
Intern in the Space Safety Programme - Planetary Defence Office - Assessing Flyeye Telescope Survey
Location
Frascati, IT
ESRIN, Frascati, Italy
Our team and mission
The ESA Space Safety Department takes care of all potential hazards and threats from space or in space, which can impact human activities, infrastructure, or related applications. The spectrum of tasks ranges from gathering the basic understanding of space hazards originating from our Sun, from human space debris, or from asteroids potentially colliding with the Earth. It also addresses basic approaches to mitigate these hazards and to implement space systems end-to-end in a sustainable and eco-compatible way. Moreover, several corner stone missions are underway to demonstrate basic methods of space weather forecasting, asteroid deflection and active space debris removal from orbit.
In execution of these tasks, the Space Safety Department has the following entities:
- Mission Implementation Division (OPS-SM)
- COSMIC Project Management Office (OPS-SC)
- Space Weather Office (OPS-SW)
- Planetary Defence Office (OPS-SP)
- Space Debris Office (OPS-SD)
- Clean Space & Circular Economy Office (OPS-SY)
- Frequency Management Office (OPS-FS)
- Programme Coordination Office (OPS-SX)
Planetary Defence Office (PDO)
The Planetary Defence Office (PDO) is addressing the “…prediction and detection [of] the potential impact of a near-Earth object”. Concerning the information needs for NEO monitoring, the following are defined:
- knowledge of the current and future positions of all NEO objects above a given size threshold or risk level, in particular their minimum fly-by distance to the Earth and time of this event;
- maintain awareness of collision risks with the Earth;
- access to verifiable, dependable, timely data with integrity and known accuracy.
The top-level Office tasks are:
- Issue NEO impact warnings and news releases.
- Provide direct access to data in the NEO database.
- Provide access to data in the NEO database available only via registration.
- Perform additional observations.
- Provide high priority information.
- Provide educational and outreach material.
- Provide user tools.
The PDO is structured along three vertical pillars differentiating following activity area:
- observation;
- information provision;
- mitigation.
You can see following domains of the department's expertise:
- ground Station Engineering;
- flight Dynamics and Mission Analysis;
- mission Operations Data Systems Engineering;
- navigation Support;
- multi-Mission Infrastructure – Ground Segment Integration and Testing.
Candidates interested are encouraged to visit the ESA website: http://www.esa.int
Field(s) of activity for the internship
You will join the observers team at the Near-Earth Object Coordination Centre, contributing to work that helps shape how one of Europe's planetary defence assets is used.
The Flyeye network will be the first European telescope survey network dedicated to searching for imminently impacting near-Earth objects, combining multiple telescope units to scan the sky for asteroids that could pose a threat to Earth. The first unit, Flyeye-1, is currently being commissioned, and a second unit, Flyeye-2, has passed its Critical Design Review and will shortly join the network.
You will engage with Sorcha, an open-source, modular survey simulator originally developed for the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), and adapt it to model the Flyeye network. Using this tool, you will explore how current discovery-rate predictions compare against real performance data, whether the network should prioritise depth or width in its observing strategy, how well Flyeye complements LSST's own coverage, and how best to operate Flyeye-1 and Flyeye-2 together, a configuration that has not previously been simulated.
Your activities will include:
- reviewing the architecture of the survey simulator and its existing use for LSST;
- building a Flyeye-specific configuration covering telescope parameters, cadence, field footprint and network geometry;
- characterising the network's discovery performance;
- running comparative simulations to test different observing strategies, such as prioritising survey depth versus sky coverage;
- assessing how Flyeye's coverage could best complement that of LSST;
- modelling how the network's telescope units can best be operated together.
Depending on your interests, there may also be scope to extend the project, for example by investigating how best to scale exposure time to adapt to sky background conditions, or by evaluat
Location
Frascati, IT
ESRIN, Frascati, Italy
Our team and mission
The ESA Space Safety Department takes care of all potential hazards and threats from space or in space, which can impact human activities, infrastructure, or related applications. The spectrum of tasks ranges from gathering the basic understanding of space hazards originating from our Sun, from human space debris, or from asteroids potentially colliding with the Earth. It also addresses basic approaches to mitigate these hazards and to implement space systems end-to-end in a sustainable and eco-compatible way. Moreover, several corner stone missions are underway to demonstrate basic methods of space weather forecasting, asteroid deflection and active space debris removal from orbit.
In execution of these tasks, the Space Safety Department has the following entities:
- Mission Implementation Division (OPS-SM)
- COSMIC Project Management Office (OPS-SC)
- Space Weather Office (OPS-SW)
- Planetary Defence Office (OPS-SP)
- Space Debris Office (OPS-SD)
- Clean Space & Circular Economy Office (OPS-SY)
- Frequency Management Office (OPS-FS)
- Programme Coordination Office (OPS-SX)
Planetary Defence Office (PDO)
The Planetary Defence Office (PDO) is addressing the “…prediction and detection [of] the potential impact of a near-Earth object”. Concerning the information needs for NEO monitoring, the following are defined:
- knowledge of the current and future positions of all NEO objects above a given size threshold or risk level, in particular their minimum fly-by distance to the Earth and time of this event;
- maintain awareness of collision risks with the Earth;
- access to verifiable, dependable, timely data with integrity and known accuracy.
The top-level Office tasks are:
- Issue NEO impact warnings and news releases.
- Provide direct access to data in the NEO database.
- Provide access to data in the NEO database available only via registration.
- Perform additional observations.
- Provide high priority information.
- Provide educational and outreach material.
- Provide user tools.
The PDO is structured along three vertical pillars differentiating following activity area:
- observation;
- information provision;
- mitigation.
You can see following domains of the department's expertise:
- ground Station Engineering;
- flight Dynamics and Mission Analysis;
- mission Operations Data Systems Engineering;
- navigation Support;
- multi-Mission Infrastructure – Ground Segment Integration and Testing.
Candidates interested are encouraged to visit the ESA website: http://www.esa.int
Field(s) of activity for the internship
You will join the observers team at the Near-Earth Object Coordination Centre, contributing to work that helps shape how one of Europe's planetary defence assets is used.
The Flyeye network will be the first European telescope survey network dedicated to searching for imminently impacting near-Earth objects, combining multiple telescope units to scan the sky for asteroids that could pose a threat to Earth. The first unit, Flyeye-1, is currently being commissioned, and a second unit, Flyeye-2, has passed its Critical Design Review and will shortly join the network.
You will engage with Sorcha, an open-source, modular survey simulator originally developed for the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), and adapt it to model the Flyeye network. Using this tool, you will explore how current discovery-rate predictions compare against real performance data, whether the network should prioritise depth or width in its observing strategy, how well Flyeye complements LSST's own coverage, and how best to operate Flyeye-1 and Flyeye-2 together, a configuration that has not previously been simulated.
Your activities will include:
- reviewing the architecture of the survey simulator and its existing use for LSST;
- building a Flyeye-specific configuration covering telescope parameters, cadence, field footprint and network geometry;
- characterising the network's discovery performance;
- running comparative simulations to test different observing strategies, such as prioritising survey depth versus sky coverage;
- assessing how Flyeye's coverage could best complement that of LSST;
- modelling how the network's telescope units can best be operated together.
Depending on your interests, there may also be scope to extend the project, for example by investigating how best to scale exposure time to adapt to sky background conditions, or by evaluat