Field(s) of activity for the internship

Topic of the internship: Solar System Internet – Development and Demonstration

Space communication is often characterised by long round-trip delays and less reliable communication links. Communication links are typically planned in advance and are only available for limited time. Data rates on the individual links may vary between a few Kbit/s to Gbit/s and no full end-to-end paths between two communicating entities may ever exist. To overcome these challenges, Delay or Disruption Tolerant Networking (DTN) communication architectures have been proposed and related communication protocols have been standardised for the space domain (Bundle Protocol, Licklider Transmission Protocol). These protocols are being implemented by ESA, simulated, and validated for various scenarios, including Earth Observation and Lunar or Mars exploration scenarios.

During the internship, you will contribute to the following tasks:

• Test and validation of protocol implementations and prototypes;
• Deployment and validation of prototypic operational systems on ground to prepare DTN communication experiments and demonstrations;
• Support the execution of DTN experiments and demonstrations with external partners (space agencies, commercial entities, academia);
• Depending on the applicants’ interest, further work could be performed in areas currently under active development and standardisation, such as reliable communication protocols, IP-BP Internetworking, or mission operations for DTN-enabled spacecraft

Through this internship, you will gain substantial experience in ground segment software development at ESA, obtain a comprehensive understanding of space communication systems, and engage with advanced technologies for upcoming networked space communications aimed at establishing a Solar System Internet.

Required Qualifications

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.

Experience with software development in Java or C++ on Linux is required. Knowledge and background in terrestrial networking (IP, TCP, UDP) or space communication protocols is an asset.