Internship / Design of the insertion strategy at the end of a geostationary transfer (m/f)

Description de l'offre

Internship / Design of the insertion strategy at the end of a geostationary transfer (m/f)

Airbus Defence & Space Toulouse (ex Astrium SL)

Airbus Defence and Space is a division of Airbus Group, formed by combining the business activities of Cassidian, Astrium and Airbus Military. This new division is the leading aerospace and defence company in Europe, it represents the second largest company in the space field and is among the ten best international defence companies. It employs some 40,000 people and records a turnover of approximately 14 billion euros per year.

Airbus Group is a global leader in aeronautics, space and related services. In 2015, the Group - comprising Airbus, Airbus Defence and Space and Airbus Helicopters - generated revenues of € 64.5 billion and employed a workforce of around 136,600.

Our people work with passion and determination to make the world a more connected, safer and smarter place. Taking pride in our work, we draw on each other's expertise and experience to achieve excellence. Our diversity and teamwork culture propel us to accomplish the extraordinary - on the ground, in the sky and in space.

Description of the job

Airbus Defence and Space (Toulouse) is looking for an intern for a 6 month internship.

Launchers (ARIANE, Falcon, etc) usually inject geostationary telecommunication satellites on an intermediate transfer orbit which is GTO-like or similar. Then series of orbital maneuvers are performed during the transfer phase allowing the satellite to reach the geostationary orbit (GEO).

One of the most delicate phase during this transfer is when the satellite is getting close to the GEO orbit where many other satellites are already stationed. It is necessary to adopt a specific strategy of maneuvers in order to minimize the risk of collision with one of them.

This internship will start on 1 st March 2017 (subject to some flexibility).

Internships at Airbus Group

Profil recherché

Tasks & accountabilities

First, you will have to consider the various types of transfer orbit towards the GEO arc: sub-synchronous, GTO, super-synchronous and the different possible alternatives. Each type of orbit implies series of appropriate maneuvers and consequently specific conditions when reaching the final GEO orbit.

Then, you will have to propose a strategy of insertion in the GEO orbit taking into account the position of the other satellites to minimize the collision risks, considering the dispersions of the maneuvers during the transfer and the type of strategy retained to stop the residual orbital drift.
Then a tool in Java will be developed in order to implement these strategies and to be able to apply them for different launch scenarios encountered operationally.

The training course will take place in the department AOCS/GNC & Flight Dynamics Studies, within the Flight Dynamics team working on mission analysis, developments of operational orbitography software and transfer operations for telecommunications satellites and low Earth orbit satellites.

Required skills

You are in the 2nd year of a master's or the 5th year of engineering school, university or equivalent specializing in Engineering / Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering.

You ideally have an initial experience in this domain.

You have knowledge of:

·  Satellite trajectory, orbital mechanics
·  Data processing : Matlab/Scilab, Java.

You are a strong team player and have excellent interpersonal skills.

English: negotiation level,
French: negotiation level.