ESA Graduate Trainee in Advanced Materials and Process Engineering

Our team and mission

The Structures Mechanisms and Materials Division TEC-MS is the Centre of competence of the Agency in all areas related to Spacecraft and Launcher Structures, and Mechanisms, Tribology and Pyrotechnic devices, as well as Materials and Processes. This encompasses spacecraft and launcher lightweight structures, stable structures, advanced mechanical materials applications, structural dynamics, damage tolerance, deployable structures/booms, active structures, hold-down and release devices, electrical motors for space mechanisms, launcher and re-entry vehicle hot- and cold structures, landing attenuation systems, seals, valves, parachute systems, separation systems, solar array drive mechanisms, reaction wheels, pointing mechanisms, pyrotechnics, bearings and tribology aspects. It provides support to projects, preparatory programs and technology programs.

The activities performed within the remit of the Materials, Manufacturing, and Assembly Section Section include:

• The qualification for space flight of advanced metallic and composite materials, structural ceramics and glasses as well as all related manufacturing and surface treatment processes for ESA spacecraft and launchers programme
• The development of revolutionary materials and innovative manufacturing technologies both internally and in cooperation with other space agencies and research organisations
  The failure investigation of materials and processes underperforming and impacting ESA space missions
• The development, certification and support of new European industrial capabilities, manufacturing processes and manpower skills training related to space applications of materials and components
• The establishment and implementation of requirements and standards for the development and the procurement of space grade materials and manufacturing processes
  The development, maintenance and improvement of the European Space Materials Database, storing all relevant data generated for materials and processes intended for Space use

In order to achieve its objectives, the Materials, Manufacturing, and Assembly Section is operating its experimental assets in the world leading ESTEC Materials and Electrical Components Laboratory, covering the full spectrum of materials characterisation testing capabilities.

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

Field(s) of activity/research for the traineeship

The European Space Agency has recently proposed the ESA Advanced Manufacturing Cross-Cutting Initiative, which captures the opportunity of adopting revolutionary manufacturing capabilities, advanced materials and associated processes and creates sustainable competitive advantage for the European Space Industry in the global market.

The current space missions are often limited in their performances and scientific achievements by the traditional manufacturing processes/concepts. Though Advanced Manufacturing technologies are readily available in the current European industrial landscape, these can be adopted for next generation space hardware manufacturing. This will enable new and highly innovative spacecraft and launchers designs, with significantly reduced manufacturing constraints (including costs and lead-time) and tremendous performances improvement.

Through this initiative, the Agency has identified a number of highly innovative materials and associated manufacturing processes which can be span-in and which will be matured to a space qualification level. In particular the following materials and processes are currently targeted:

1. Additive Manufacturing: Structure/property performance evaluation and model verification through mechanical and μ-mechanical characterisation
2. Friction Stir Welding, Solid State Joining Technologies for hybrid (metallic/Non-metallic) joining
3. Advanced composite materials (polymers, metal and ceramic matrix composites) and their performance characterision and prediction in extreme environment
4. Advanced surface engineering for thermal and corrosion management
5. Solder joint reliability (mechanical an thermal fatigue) for high/low T electronics
6. Performance evaluation and Whisker growth behaviour of Pb-free solder alternatives
7. Integrated Computational Materials Engineering - model development and validation

You will use the world leading facilities of the ESA/ESTEC Materials and Electrical Components Laboratory, in order to characterise all the above advanced materials and manufacturing processes.
The specific work is focusing especially on aim (5) supporting the transition from destructive physical analysis to non-destructive investigation usimg among other techniques high-resulution X-ray tomography.

Depending on your expertise, the work may focus not only on experimental but also computational tasks to support (7) in collaboration with the ICME team (e.g. model prediction or automatic defect recognition). The final goal is to provide an in-depth understanding of the performance limits of NDI vs PDA for deterimination of solder joint reliability.

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 just completed, or be in the final year of your master’ s degree in material science covering metallic, polymeric and/or composite materials.

Additional requirements

You should have good interpersonal and communication skills and should be able to work in a multicultural environment, both independently and as part of a team. Previous experience of working in international teams can be considered an asset. Your motivation, overall professional perspective and career goals will also be explored during the later stages of the selection process.