The European Space Agency (ESA) is offering an internship in AI, Data & Digital Twins in its Ground Systems Engineering and Innovation Department, based at ESOC in Darmstadt, Germany. It is open to university students, preferably in the final or second-to-last year of a Master's course, who are nationals of an eligible State. Applications close on 30 November 2026 at 23:59 CET/CEST.
At Youth Works Hub, we read the full vacancy and listed every topic, requirement and condition below. You can find more internships and traineeships on Youth Works Hub, including internships abroad for students.
ESA Darmstadt Internship at a Glance
🛰️ Organisation: European Space Agency (ESA)
🏢 Department: Ground Systems Engineering and Innovation Department, Directorate of Operations
🔢 Job Requisition ID: 21137
📍 Location: ESOC, Darmstadt, Germany
💼 Type of appointment: Intern
🗓️ Duration: 3 to 6 months
🚀 Start: From February 2027, with the exact start date agreed with your ESA tutor
🎓 Education: University student, preferably in the final or second-to-last year of a Master's course
🗣️ Languages: English or French
🛂 Nationality: National of an eligible State (full list below)
⏳ Application deadline: 30 November 2026, 23:59 CET/CEST
Where You Would Work: The Ground Systems Engineering and Innovation Department
The Ground Systems Engineering and Innovation Department is responsible for all the ground systems engineering and support activities required to support mission operations and to implement innovation.
The Department maintains and manages a full level of competences, technologies and services in all engineering disciplines related to ground systems, infrastructure, technology evolution and Engineering R&T and innovation.
What the Department Does for ESA
The Department provides expert support in these areas to the Directorate of Operations for all current and potential missions. It also leads, in the role of architect, the evolution of ground systems and the implementation of innovation in the infrastructure and for other ESA programmes.
On top of this, the Department is responsible for the overall technical innovation and the technical standardisation coordination for the ground segment.
Five Domains of Expertise
The Department relies on the following domains of expertise:
🛰️ Ground Station Engineering
🧭 Flight Dynamics and Mission Analysis
🗄️ Mission Operations Data Systems Engineering
📡 Navigation Support
🔧 Multi-Mission Infrastructure, covering Ground Segment Integration and Testing
The vacancy invites interested candidates to read more about the work of the Department on the ESA website, and the link is in the Links section at the end of this post.
Four Internship Topics to Choose From
The vacancy lists four topics, and you can choose among them:
🗄️ Topic 1: Data Foundation Platform Adoption for Mission Operations
🤖 Topic 2: Artificial Intelligence for Space Operations
💻 Topic 3: Agentic software engineering for Space Mission Operations Systems
🌐 Topic 4: Digital Twins, AI-Enhanced Simulation Models and Machine Learning for spacecraft operations and health monitoring
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Topic 1: Data Foundation Platform Adoption for Mission Operations
Spacecraft and their associated ground data systems generate vast amounts of data during the monitoring and control process. This data is stored, processed and analysed within the mission operations ground segment to ensure spacecraft health, correlate events and support the development of artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms.
The Data Foundation Platform is a key initiative supporting the digital transformation of mission operations through trusted, governed and accessible data. As the platform continues to evolve, increasing awareness, user engagement and adoption across mission teams is critical to ensuring that its capabilities deliver value to the organisation.
What You Would Do in Topic 1
In this topic, you explore the Agency's data foundations and structures, focusing on how governed and accessible data can enable advanced mission operations, analytics and AI.
🏛️ Contribute to data governance activities related to data ownership, quality, lineage, accessibility and compliance
🧩 Support the adoption of the Data Foundation Platform
🤝 Collaborate closely with operational teams and stakeholders
💡 Identify new use cases and help onboard data products and datasets
🔍 Assess how data-driven solutions can address operational challenges
What You Would Learn in Topic 1
Through this experience, you gain hands-on experience with:
🧱 Modern data platform concepts
🗣️ Stakeholder engagement
⚙️ Data engineering practices
🚀 The promotion of data-driven innovation within mission operations
The vacancy adds that you are invited to express your interest in specific areas of the topic.
Topic 2: Artificial Intelligence for Space Operations
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming a key technology in modern spacecraft operations applications. It is highly relevant to support automation, correlate data and execute pattern recognition, and it can even enable digital assistants for operators, helping them operate the spacecraft and ground systems, including ground stations.
As part of this topic, you contribute to the AI programme of the Directorate.
Why AI Matters for Spacecraft Operations
Spacecraft and ground segment operations still depend heavily on manual expert effort: interpreting telemetry, judging when something needs attention, working out what to do about it, and writing up the outcome. AI offers a way to support each of these steps and, more importantly, to connect them.
One Connected Loop From Telemetry to Decisions
The vacancy describes how the pieces could fit together:
📈 A system able to recognise unusual or degrading behaviour in telemetry can pass that insight downstream
🗓️ Planning and scheduling tools then propose and sequence candidate actions
🧪 Those actions can be tested and refined against simulation engines, whose fidelity and representativeness can themselves be enhanced with AI and digital twin solutions
🔁 The loop closes with a sharper read on system state and better-informed decisions
Generative AI for Operators
None of this is useful if it stays locked inside modelling pipelines that only specialists can query. Generative AI, spanning text, code and other modalities, can turn telemetry, engineering documentation and analysis outputs into structured knowledge that operators interact with directly.
Operators could ask questions in natural language, generate reports and summaries, or even draft supporting code or configuration, rather than assembling insights by hand across disconnected tools.
What You Would Do in Topic 2
The internship explores how four strands reinforce one another as parts of a single operational picture:
🩺 Monitoring and diagnostics
🧠 Decision support
🧪 Enhanced simulation
💬 Generative, multi-modal interaction with data
The project builds on and extends existing operational tools, based on frequent inputs and feedback from end-users. You prototype and assess one such integrated approach, or a representative slice of it, on operational telemetry and documentation, leveraging agentic coding approaches and including automatic benchmarking against existing and synthetically generated benchmarks.
You are invited to express your interest in specific areas of the topic.
Topic 3: Agentic Software Engineering for Space Mission Operations Systems
This topic also sits within the AI programme of the Directorate. It is about investigating and implementing agentic AI approaches for software engineering in the space operations domain, and it covers two complementary scenarios.
Scenario 1: Agentic Development for Existing Software Systems
This direction investigates how AI agents can understand an existing codebase and support software evolution through tasks such as:
✨ Feature implementation
🐞 Bug fixing
♻️ Refactoring
✅ Testing
📚 Documentation
🛠️ Maintenance
PULSE, the next generation Mission Control System, is used as a representative existing operational software system.
Scenario 2: Agentic Development of New Software Components
This direction investigates how agentic workflows can generate new software components for space applications from requirements and frequent interactions with end-users. The work covers:
📐 Design
⌨️ Implementation
🔬 Testing
📝 Documentation
🔄 Iterative verification
You are invited to express your interest in specific areas of the topic.
Topic 4: Digital Twins, AI-Enhanced Simulation Models and Machine Learning
Spacecraft health monitoring and control still rely largely on limit checking and expert interpretation of telemetry. Digital twins, meaning physics-based or hybrid models kept synchronised with the live asset, offer a way to reason about system state beyond what raw telemetry shows.
What Digital Twins Make Possible
Digital twins can support three things the vacancy names:
🔭 Estimating unobservable parameters
🎲 Simulating what-if scenarios
⚠️ Predicting degradation before it becomes an anomaly
Combining these models with machine learning and, increasingly, with LLM-based reasoning over engineering documentation opens the way to end-to-end prognostics and health management.
Advances in Simulation Technologies
In this light, advancements in simulation technologies include the integration of Digital Twins concepts and the use of Machine Learning algorithms to process signals (time-series) and enhance the modelling of complex spacecraft systems. The aim is to predict their behaviour under various operational conditions and to help support and address the resolution of operational issues.
What You Would Do in Topic 4
You investigate how digital twins, AI models and advanced simulation can be combined to support the detection, diagnosis, prognosis and control of spacecraft subsystems. You then prototype and assess one such approach on representative telemetry.
Expressing Your Interest in Specific Areas
Topics 1, 2 and 3 each end with the same invitation: you are invited to express your interest in specific areas of the topic. The vacancy also says that, during the interview, your motivation for applying to the role will be explored.
Who Can Apply: Education
You must be a university student, preferably in your final or second-to-last year of university course at Master's level. You must also be able to prove that you will be enrolled at your university for the entire duration of the internship.
Nationality Requirement
Applications are only considered from nationals of one of the following States: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
Applicants from Canada as a Cooperating State can apply as well, together with those from Bulgaria, Croatia and Malta as European Cooperating States (ECS).
Languages
The working languages of the Agency are English and French, and a good knowledge of one of these is required. Knowledge of another ESA Member State language is an asset.
Knowledge and Skills That Count as an Asset
The vacancy names the following as an asset:
🗄️ Data-centric architectures and engineering
📊 Data science and artificial intelligence solutions
🌐 Digital twins
⏱️ Time-series forecasting
🤖 Machine learning
🧮 Simulation technology applied to complex systems
These can come from knowledge or academic specialisation in the field.
Behavioural Competencies
The vacancy lists six ESA core behavioural competencies. For more information, it refers candidates to the ESA Core Behavioural Competencies guidebook.
🎯 Result Orientation
⚙️ Operational Efficiency
🤝 Fostering Cooperation
💬 Relationship Management
📈 Continuous Improvement
🔮 Forward Thinking
Duration, Start Date and Number of Applications
According to ESA's announcement of its 2027 Student Internships, the internship lasts 3 to 6 months and starts from February 2027. The exact start date is agreed with the ESA tutor.
A candidate can apply for a maximum of two internship vacancies.
Selection Process
During the recruitment process, the Agency may request applicants to undergo selection tests. At the interview, your motivation for applying to this role is explored.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusiveness
ESA is an equal opportunity employer, committed to achieving diversity within the workforce and creating an inclusive working environment. It welcomes applications from all qualified candidates irrespective of gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religious beliefs, age, disability or other characteristics.
Whenever possible, ESA seeks to accommodate individuals with disabilities by providing the necessary support at the workplace. The Human Resources Department can also provide assistance during the recruitment process, and you can contact ESA by email using the address in the Links section.
Important Information and Disclaimer
The information published on ESA's careers website regarding internship conditions is correct at the time of publication. It is not intended to be exhaustive and may not address all questions you would have.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is the internship based?
The internship is based at ESOC in Darmstadt, Germany. It sits in the Ground Systems Engineering and Innovation Department of ESA's Directorate of Operations.
Who can apply for this ESA internship?
You must be a university student, preferably in the final or second-to-last year of a Master's course. You must be able to prove that you remain enrolled at your university for the entire duration of the internship, and you must be a national of an eligible State.
Which nationalities are eligible?
Applications are only considered from nationals of the ESA States listed in the Nationality Requirement section, plus Canada as a Cooperating State and Bulgaria, Croatia and Malta as European Cooperating States.
How long does the internship last and when does it start?
According to ESA's announcement of its 2027 Student Internships, it lasts 3 to 6 months and starts from February 2027. The start date is agreed with the ESA tutor.
Can I apply for more than one internship at ESA?
Yes, but only up to two. A candidate can apply for a maximum of two internship vacancies.
Which topic should I choose?
The vacancy offers four topics: Data Foundation Platform Adoption, Artificial Intelligence for Space Operations, Agentic software engineering for Space Mission Operations Systems, and Digital Twins with AI-enhanced simulation and machine learning. You are invited to express your interest in specific areas of the topic.
Which languages do I need?
A good knowledge of English or French is required. Knowledge of another ESA Member State language is an asset.
Which skills are an asset?
Knowledge or academic specialisation in data-centric architectures and engineering, data science and artificial intelligence solutions, digital twins, time-series forecasting, machine learning or simulation technology applied to complex systems.
Will there be selection tests or an interview?
The Agency may request applicants to undergo selection tests. During the interview, your motivation for applying to the role will be explored.
How do I apply?
Apply through the Apply now link on the ESA job site. The link is in the Links section at the end of this post.
When is the application deadline?
Applications close on 30 November 2026 at 23:59 CET/CEST.
Deadline
⏳ 30 November 2026
Links
🔗 Full vacancy and application (Intern in the Ground Systems Engineering & Innovation Department, AI, Data & Digital Twins): https://jobs.esa.int/job/Darmstadt-Intern-in-the-Ground-Systems-Engineering-&-Innovation-Department-AI%2C-Data-&-Digital-Twins/1452807533/
📰 ESA Student Internships 2027 announcement: https://www.esa.int/About_Us/Careers_at_ESA/ESA_Student_Internships_2027_are_now_open
🛰️ About ground systems at ESA: https://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Operations/gse/Building_infrastructure_on_Earth_to_support_satellites_in_space
🌐 ESA website: https://www.esa.int
✉️ Questions and disability support: ESA.Student.Internships@esa.int
