Job Description:

This internship will support and extend the CAA internal satellite failure database to improve the information available to the CAA as part of licencing and monitoring decisions and activities for UK registered satellites. Combine both open-source information and proprietary information collected through licensing activities to improve the quality of data used for regulatory decision making and better understand UK platform risk exposure.

The successful applicant will maintain and extend the existing failure database with new information gathered through open source means as well as information supplied during licensing and monitoring activities. Interrogate and identify if there is any critical information gathered that can indicate missions with higher platform risk and any methods to de risk these applications as part of the licensing process. Take a horizon scanning approach to review emerging space products and extend the existing database with COTS systems to better understand the risks associated.

Through the course of this internship, candidates will

• Generate an understanding of the platform layouts used for various missions from cubesats to GEO buses.

• Develop an understanding of how platform risk affects mission safety and its impact on the regulatory licensing process.

• Understand how different space environments impact satellite platform layout and subsystem design.

• Build a greater understanding of how hardware risk is managed in association with the ALARP principle.

• Develop a greater understanding of how risk is managed from a regulatory perspective.

The successful applicant should have the following qualities and abilities:

Basic requirements

• Engineering degree with mechanical focus

• Physical science degree with a hardware focus

  Desirable requirements:

• Knowledge of platform hardware

• General understanding of satellite platforms and subsystems

• Awareness of space environment and risks to platform hardware

• Comfortable working remotely

• Programming knowledge

Process details:

• 8 weeks minimum (12 weeks maximum) fixed term contract to be agreed with successful candidate

• 5-7 days holiday to be taken during the placement

Working at the Civil Aviation Authority

The CAA is the UK Airspace and Space regulator. We work so that:

• both aviation and Space industry meets the highest safety standards,

• consumers have choice, are protected and treated fairly when they fly,

• through efficient use of airspace, the environmental impact of aviation on local communities is effectively managed and CO2 emissions are reduced,

• the aviation industry manages security risks effectively.