Internal Research Fellow in Planetary Protection

Our team and mission The Research Fellow in Planetary Protection will work in close cooperation with other staff of the Independent Safety Office in the Directorate of Technology, Engineering and Quality. The Independent Safety Office is responsible for overseeing the development, implementation, maintenance of ESA policies, requirements, standards and functional support to ESA projects for: Planetary Protection, Space Debris Mitigation, Nuclear Safety for applications in space, Re-entry safety, Human Spaceflight Safety. Europe leads the way in sustainable and responsible space exploration, with planetary protection at the core of its efforts.

The role The Research Fellow in Planetary Protection's primary role is to develop mathematical frameworks to be used for modelling the probability to 1) transfer harmful contamination to solar system bodies for robotic or crewed missions (or a combination of both); 2) transfer harmful contamination from outer space to Earth. As an internal researcher, the candidate will perform research activities exploring new ways or expanding the scope of existing studies to promote the use of risk-informed decision frameworks, prediction models, AI applied to planetary protection.

Job requirements Tasks include: Support the creation of probabilistic models for planetary protection: Liaise with European and international partners involved in planetary protection activities, studying the current scientific data available (i.e. datamining) and identify knowledge gaps to build credible models. Coordinate relevant activities for modelling contamination. Support the definition and the development of mathematical frameworks for planetary protection. Communicate to the astrobiology community and provide guidance in providing useful inputs for the model. Integrate the data provided by multidisciplinary teams and establish the number / type of lab tests needed for model validation. Develop new protocols, tools for planetary protection purposes: Develop probabilistic standards, software, procedures, processes and handbook related to planetary protection as applicable. Provide support for ongoing missions and use past missions’ data for developing of new models. Provide support for the preparation of future missions. Define and advise on future requirements for probabilities of contaminating celestial bodies. Interface with partners, knowledge management and dissemination: Support and represent ESA within the external scientific and technological communities. Support and represent interests of ESA and of the planetary protection community, including organising and chairing meetings and working groups and coordinating community activities associated with probabilistic approaches and analysis. Actively pursue personal scientific research, using facilities within ESA centres and those accessed through partnerships with external organisations. Participate in relevant scientific associations and conferences.

Benefits You are encouraged to visit the ESA website: https://www.esa.int/ for more information.