ESA Graduate Trainee in Simulation and Development of Radiation Instrumentation for Sci Exploration

Our team and mission

Within the European Space Agency’s (ESA)’s Directorate for Human and Robotic Exploration, the Exploration Science activities are a cornerstone of the Explore2040 strategy, driving innovation at the intersection of human exploration and scientific discovery. It integrates exploration-focused science, essential for future missions, with exploration-enabled science, leveraging space for groundbreaking research. With access to ground-based analogues, the ISS, future commercial LEO platforms, the Lunar Gateway, the Moon, and Mars, the programme offers unique opportunities for transformative research in diverse environments. Guided by European values of collaboration, excellence, and responsibility, the programme emphasizes open science, international cooperation, and inspiring future generations. From developing countermeasures for spaceflight to searching for life on Mars, ESA Exploration Science advances knowledge for space and Earth alike.

In this context, radiation is one of the key topics of scientific investigation in which the research undertaken will contribute to enabling future robotic and human exploration missions. Based on our current knowledge, radiation has been identified as one of the major   challenges to the prolonged human presence in deep space. Advances are therefore necessary in:

• our understanding of the radiation environment and its short- and long-term variations;
• the simulation of the environment interacting with matter (spacecraft structures and planetary surfaces/atmospheres);
• the assessment of the risk that exposure to the specific space radiation environment experienced on such missions poses to humans and technology. 

The EGT position will be overseen by the Science Lead for Radiation who, reporting to the Chief Exploration Scientist, coordinates scientific investigations in this area in collaboration with destination science team leads.

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

Field(s) of activity/research for the traineeship

The activities to be undertaken as part of this traineeship focus on the design of future radiation instrumentation for space exploration missions. Such instruments may be designed to measure:

• the external (or primary) radiation environment, comprised primarily of galactic cosmic rays and solar energetic particles, and their variations in time;
• the albedo population induced by the interaction of primary radiation particles with planetary atmospheres and/or surfaces, or
• the environment inside a spacecraft or habitable structure, to assess the attenuation and production of secondary particles resulting from the interaction of primary and albedo radiation with shielding.

The starting point for this traineeship will be a report generated by an expert facility (or science) definition team between December 2025 and November 2026. The initiation of this traineeship intentionally coincides with the conclusion of this team’s work, with some overlap for interaction with its members. The report will identify measurement techniques which could form the basis of radiation instrumentation for future exploration missions.

The traineeship will focus on the evaluation of one or more of the identified measurement techniques and will involve several of the following aspects:

• review and evaluation of the state of the art of one or more previously identified measurement techniques with respect to required data products;
• establishment of baseline detector geometries representative of realistically implementable instruments;
• simulation of response functions of the established geometries;
• assessment of the capabilities of front-end electronics to read out detector signals;
• development of particle-identification schemes and (anti-)coincidence logic for deriving required data products;
• analysis of beam-test data of previously developed instruments.

You will learn about radiation science in the context of ESA's human and robotic exploration program. You will have the opportunity to interact with agency and industry experts and make use of simulation tools for radiation instrument design. Finally, you will have the possibility to support the development of future space missions that will carry radiation instruments to near-Earth orbit, to the Moon, and to Mars.

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 nuclear and particle physics or a related field. 

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. 

Expertise of Python or a similar high-level programming language applied to scientific computing is required.

Experience with radiation transport simulations, instrument detector and front-end electronics development, or radiation instrument calibrations would be assets.