Internal Research Fellow (PostDoc) in Planetary Robotics

Internal Research Fellowship Opportunity in the Directorate of Technology, Engineering and Quality.

ESA is an equal opportunity employer, committed to achieving diversity within the workforce and creating an inclusive working environment. For this purpose, we welcome applications from all qualified candidates irrespective of gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, beliefs, age, disability or other characteristics. Applications from women are encouraged.

This post is classified F2 on the Coordinated Organisations’ salary scale.

Location ESTEC, Noordwijk, Netherlands

Our team and mission

The Automation and Robotics Section located at ESTEC, the technical heart of ESA, has three labs with corresponding work groups: Orbital Robotics/GNC, Planetary Robotics and Human-Robot Interaction. This Fellowship is for the Planetary Robotics Lab (PRL) but may also involve the Human-Robot Interaction lab. The labs also conduct field tests that deploy the lab platforms in terrestrial analogues of planetary environments (typically deserts).

You will join a team of mechanical, electrical, control and software engineers. Our equipment consists of specialised software for analysis and commercial industrial components, as well as in-house developed and integrated systems or subsystems such as rover platforms and/or robotic manipulators. Our goal is to validate concepts, methods, hardware and software to implement technologies that support planetary exploration with building blocks that enhance a probe’s locomotion and navigation capabilities.

In the period of the Fellowship, the lab will be supporting Mars exploration missions such as the Rosalind Franklin Rover Mission (RFM) and the Mars Sample Return (MSR) Mission Campaign. Potential Lunar missions, currently in their study phase, will also be assessed. In these, robotics will play a key role in fulfilling the objectives of prospecting and ISRU, as well as the deployment, assembly and construction of instrumentation and infrastructure.

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

Field(s) of activity/research for the traineeship

Robotics, control, computer science, computer vision, machine learning and AI, remote operations, human-robot interaction and mechatronics.

You will develop, in collaboration with the Section’s staff, highly autonomous, yet interactive end-to-end robotics systems that will make high-yield planetary exploration and exploitation missions possible.

Your research will leverage on concepts such as autonomous navigation, global localisation, task learning, object and environment classification and autonomous grasping.

Your research will involve the use of the Section’s rovers, robots and aerial platforms and will produce a working end-to-end robotics system which will be demonstrated in a field test.

To gain exposure to the reality of space missions, you will also support the Section staff in review activities of existing ESA projects in the planetary realm.

Technical competencies

Knowledge relevant to the field of research

Research/publication record

Ability to conduct research autonomously

Breadth of exposure coming from past and/or current research/activities

Ability to gather and share relevant information

General interest in space and space research

Behavioural competencies

Result Orientation Operational Efficiency Fostering Cooperation Relationship Management Continuous Improvement Forward Thinking

Education

Applicants should have recently completed or be close to completing a PhD in computer science, GNC or robotics. Preference will be given to candidates who have received their doctorate within the past five years.

Additional requirements

Experience in the design, implementation and deployment of autonomous robotic systems with a focus on navigation and manipulation tasks. Programming in C++ is required. Experience with other programming and scripting languages would be considered an asset. Experience with CD/CI tools in software development projects would be considered an asset. Experience with data-driven models in software engineering would be considered an asset.

Other information

For behavioural competencies expected from ESA staff in general, please refer to the ESA Competency Framework.

For further information on the Internal Research Fellowship Programme please visit: Internal Research Fellowship

The Agency may require applicants to undergo selection tests.

In addition to your CV and your motivation letter, please add your proposal of no more than 5 pages outlining your proposed research in the "additional documents" field of the "application information" section.

At the Agency we value diversity and we welcome people with disabilities. Whenever possible, we seek to accommodate individuals with disabilities by providing the necessary support at the workplace. The Human Resources Department can also provide assistance during the recruitment process. If you would like to discuss this further please contact us at contact.human.resources@esa.int.

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Please note that applications are only considered from nationals of one of the following States: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Nationals from Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia, as Associate Member States, or Canada as a Cooperating State, can apply as well as those from Bulgaria, Croatia and Cyprus as European Cooperating States (ECS).

According to the ESA Convention, the recruitment of staff must take into account an adequate distribution of posts among nationals of the ESA Member States*. When short-listing for an interview, priority will first be given to candidates from under-represented Member States*.

In accordance with the European Space Agency’s security procedures and as part of the selection process, successful candidates will be required to undergo basic screening before appointment conducted by an external background screening service.

*Member States, Associate Members or Cooperating States.