Job Description:

Astroscale’s mission to drive the market for In-Orbit Services and has traditionally focused on institutional, commercial and civil customers. The company has made less progress in trying to understand the applicability of sustainability services for the defence sector. This project will undertake critical technical assessment to better understand the feasibility of the market and suggest key opportunities of interest.

During this internship, you will approach the following tasks:

Task 1 – Conduct a survey of existing and developing allied defence assets in GEO, MEO and LEO, capturing available high level mission parameters, such as ownership, orbital ephemeris, function, mass and launch date.

Task 2 – Agree high-level rules with the BD Manager to map the applicability of services to clients. For example, satellites under a certain age would not be candidates for a refuelling mission in the near term. This will refine the outcome of the survey to potential serviceable market.

Task 3 – Consider the orbital distribution of assets in orbit to understand how potential client missions could be put together. This should ideally identify and propose groupings of customer clients for future Astroscale missions. For example, identify 3-4 satellites in a similar orbit, all owned that could benefit from a refuelling capability.

Task 4 – Conduct early technical feasibility investigations into proposed missions considering issues such as common interface requirements and by conducting mission simulations to validate fuel budgets (using GMAT).

Task 5 – Where the market is “technically limited”, work with BD manager to propose technical requirements to maximise the sustainability and serviceability of the Defence Space Enterprise architecture.

Task 6 – Final technical presentation to commercial team and business analysis to help inform future strategic decision making.

The successful applicant should have the following qualities and abilities:

Academic:

• Any degree considered to be Technical, Scientific, Mathematical or Analytical. Examples may include, but are not limited to: Maths, Physics, Engineering, Economics, Material Sciences, Computing.

  Minimum requirements:

• Passionate about Astroscale’s mission to make space safe, sustainability and secure.  

• Enrolled in undergraduate or graduate degree 

• Available full-time during the summer  

• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite Good interpersonal, organisational, and written/verbal communication skills including to both technical and non-technical audiences 

• Demonstrated ability to use logic to collect, evaluate and synthesize multiple sources of information, e.g. articles and research papers 

• Analytical mindset and strong quantitative skills – ability to think critically and creatively

• Ability to appreciate both technical and commercial drivers to assess feasibility.  

  Desirable requirements:

• Relevant previous internships or project experience 

• Modelling and simulation experience

• Basic understanding of mission analysis and types of satellite orbits   

Process details:

• 8 weeks minimum fixed term contract to be agreed with successful candidate

• 5 days holiday to be taken during the placement

Working at Astroscale:

We aim to deliver cutting edge technologies that will become part of routine commercial space operations by 2030.

Astroscale is the first private company with a vision to secure the safe and sustainable development of space for the benefit of future generations, and the only company dedicated to in-orbit servicing across all orbits. Founded in 2013, we are developing innovative and scalable solutions across the spectrum of in-orbit servicing missions, including End of Life services, Active Debris Removal, In-situ Space Situational Awareness and Life Extension Services, to create sustainable space systems and mitigate against the hazardous build-up of debris in space.

Astroscale is an Equal Opportunities employer and embraces a diverse workforce. All qualified applicants, including minorities, women and individuals with disabilities are encouraged to apply.