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Support to Science Operations Herschel
2013-11-06 11:35:30| Space-careers.com Jobs RSS
RHEA the fastest growing leading Belgian SME providing system engineering solutions and professional engineering services to the international space industry is recruiting experienced engineering support for a full time position based in the area of Madrid, Spain. Description The Herschel Space Observatory was launched in May 2009. It performed astronomical photometry and spectroscopy in the far infrared and submillimetre 57670 micron wavelength range. Its scientific payload consisted of three instruments using a variety of detector technologies developed by Principal Investigator teams at various institutions, predominantly in Europe but with a significant contribution from the US. The majority of its observing time was provided to the general user community, via annual Calls for Proposals. Since May 2013, the Herschel spacecraft has had no liquid helium coolant remaining to allow the science instruments on board to operate, hence regular operations have ceased and the spacecraft has been placed into a nonreturning Solar orbit. In the ongoing postoperations phase, the Herschel Science Centre HSC, located at ESAC, is, inter alia, responsible for supporting data analysis improvements, oversight of the calibration and crosscalibration of the science instruments, and the generation of standard science products and their quality assessment as final Herschel archive products. All observational data has been systematically processed to generate these products that are distributed to the astronomical community via the Herschel Science Archive HSA, developed and maintained at ESAC. With the complete set of data from mission operations now in hand it is possible to further improve the calibration and data products in the archive. For this service, the incumbent is expected to perform the following tasks. The priorities of each task and the level to which they are performed will depend on the needs of the observatory plus the capabilities of the successful candidates to understand the general workings of the attitude and control system and how it relates to the accuracy of science products being produced in the standard processing of science instrument data from Herschel to become expert in understanding how the attitude and control operations were performed on board the spacecraft and how they may be improved upon in postprocessing on the ground with the aim of reducing photometric uncertainties in the analysed data answer helpdesk questions on instrument and spacecraft operations and data products associated with the spacecraft participate in assessing and updating calibration information and in particular pointing information and its use in the standard processing pipelines develop procedures for improving pointing information for all instrument modes of operation. develop methods for handing special pointing problem cases. to participate in acceptance testing of new software perform data quality checking of observations with problematic pointing issues. The specific services include Helpdesk Interactions with Scientists o Answering user tickets associated with spacecraft operations and instrument data processing Spacecraft Expertise o Learn about the technical issues associated with the ACMS system and its effects on the quality of the Herschel science instrument data products Data processing o Checks of software delivered to the data processing system for handling pointing improvements o Development of further pointing improvements based on improved knowledge of the effects of the ACMS system during operations o Acceptance testing of data processing capabilities that include pointing improvements for each software update every 612 months in post operations o Provide reporting on postoperations pointing improvements and final attitude and jitter errors and overall spacecraft performance statistics. o Test that improvements are applicable to and improve the products of the various instrument modes of operation and report assessment of the improvement on science products based on pointing updates. Quality control o Perform checks of problematic observations and their associated data for feedback to users. Profile The service is to provide support to the scientific user community instrument calibration teams for which specific expertise is required in the following areas Knowledge of space observatory instrumentation, acquired through missions operations andor development. Understanding of techniques for accurate determination of spacecraft attitudes. Experience understanding of farinfrared science instruments would be an advantage. Experience in interacting with the scientific community. The selected contractor must be ready to operate in a team environment and be able to interact with the astronomical community around the world. Good interpersonal and communication skills are essential. The candidates should be comfortable in an international working environment and be fluent in English, one of the official languages of ESA. Specific Qualification Requirements Masters University degree, PhD preferred, in AstronomyAstrophysics, Physics, or Engineering, or equivalent and relevant professional experience, Location Madrid, Spain Application deadline 23112013 If you are interested, please send your Word format CV as well as a Cover Letter to Lena Englander, Recruitment Manager at careeropportunitiesrheagroup.com Please do not hesitate to contact us for more information. RHEA provides you with an attractive employment package based on the candidates experience, the opportunity to build experience in the space sector and to grow within an international company. RHEA is an independent Space Engineering Consulting and Software company that offers knowledgebased services and innovative solutions to the space industry. Our technical expertise is coupled with the provision of software tools for both Space and Ground segments. For the past 18 years RHEA has supported over 40 space missions, including comet chasers, planetary and Moon missions, deep space astronomy experiments to understand the fundamental laws of physics, climate monitoring, meteorology, navigation and communications. Rhea is the market leader for MOIS solutions and procedure management systems. Rhea has successfully brought together engineers and scientists from 13 nationalities to support its clients across 7 European countries, Canada and the USA.
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herschel
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