Our team and mission

This position is based at the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) - Noordwijk, Netherlands

Within the Earth Observations Projects Department, the Copernicus Sentinel Expansion missions are currently under development. One of those missions is the CHIME (Copernicus Hyperspectral Imaging Mission for the Environment). CHIME plans to carry a unique visible to shortwave infrared spectrometer to provide routine hyperspectral observations to support new and enhanced services for sustainable agricultural and biodiversity management, as well as soil property characterisation.

You will be able to join the CHIME project, participating as part of the system engineering and satellite engineering section in activities related to Onboard Satellite Artificial Intelligence Processing and the evaluation of end-to-end mission performances.

Further details on the CHIME mission can be found at:

• https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/Copernicus/Copernicus_Sentinel_Expansion_missions
• https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/Copernicus/Going_hyperspectral_for_CHIME
• The copernicus hyperspectral imaging mission for the environment (CHIME): an overview of its mission, system and planning status; SPIE Proceedings Volume 12729; 1272909 (2023) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2679977
   

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

Field(s) of activity for the internship

Topic of the internship: Estimation of per-pixel uncertainties - Development of algorithms and software tools for the estimation of pixel uncertainties associated to level 1 and level 2 products for an upcoming hyperspectral mission.

By performing an internship in the CHIME project, you will engage yourself in the evaluation of end-to-end mission performances of hyperspectral data.

The software which you will use are the end-to-end simulator (E2E) and the Observation Performance Simulator (OPSI). 

Using these simulators you will be able to test and validate data flow from geophysical parameters through the instrument and satellite subsystems up to the final level 2 data products, such as vegetation traits (https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9554407, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isprsjprs.2022.09.003)

You will be responsible for helping to define algorithms necessary to the estimation of the estimation of per-pixel uncertainties measurement associated to level 1 and level 2 data products and for their implementation in dedicated software tool(s) to run either as standalone or as support to the OPSI and E2E. 
As part of this activity you will contribute to the identification of the radiometric, spectral and geometric uncertainty contributors and for the propagation of such contributors in the level 1 and level 2 processing chains.

Additionally, there will be an opportunity to exchange with the CHIME Mission Advisory Group and with the industrial teams responsible for the OPSI and E2E development.

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 in your final or second-to-last year of a university course at Master’s level and you need to remain 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 Member State language would be an asset.

It would be an advantage to have:

• Knowledge and background in the development of data analysis tools, e.g., Python or MATLAB;
• Solid engineering background with familiarity in using a software simulator; 
• Programming skills and a basic understanding of space system design.