Internship - Environmental Performance Engineering

MaiaSpace is a European space tech company, designing, manufacturing and operating competitive and sustainable solutions for space mobility. We are driven by the belief that access to space is a major enabler for a better and more sustainable life on Earth, addressing the challenges faced by humanity: climate, resources, connectivity, and data. Our aim is to successfully design and test a cost-effective and reusable mini-launch vehicle with a maiden flight expected by end of 2026. 

Ecology and the fight against environmental destruction are an integral part of the culture and core values of MaiaSpace. Our ambitions include pioneering the evaluation and mitigation of a launcher’s environmental impacts via two major objectives: 

• To develop the mini-launcher with the lowest impact on the Earth's environment. 

• To maximize positive impact on the orbital environment through in-orbit services.  

To achieve these objectives, our initial overarching design choices for the launcher prioritize environmental mitigation by: 

• Opting for LOX/methane to reduce black carbon emissions during launch compared to kerosene. 

• Using biomethane to reduce carbon emissions of the propellant during production phase. 

• Introducing reusability of the lower stage to significantly diminish resource depletion. 

Since Day 1, MaiaSpace has conducted a thorough Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to evaluate the environmental impact of its product throughout its lifecycle. Environmental performance is considered in design trade-off analyses, further propelling efforts to reduce environmental impacts compared to the defined targets. Our environmental strategy includes not only internal environmental impacts but also the management of vulnerability to environmental degradation, and the global context of energy and raw materials. In addition, recognizing gaps in the LCA methodology for space, MaiaSpace has developed proprietary methods for key aspects like reusability management and high-altitude impacts approximation during launch. 

Internship description: 

Global environmental analyses are regularly conducted and updated to rigorously evaluate how to optimize the environmental impact of our launcher. 

To this end, MaiaSpace has identified a new study to be carried out: an assessment of the environmental benefits of reusing the first stage for specific market scenarios and launch manifests. This work will build upon previous analyses by refining them with the updated LCA of Maia and performing sensitivity analyses on selected parameters. The analysis can be performed using Excel, Python, or Geeglee. Results will be summarized in a report and may be presented at a conference. 

Other activities may include: 

• Updating the supplier data collection form. 

• Contributing to internal CSR initiatives (e.g. Climate Fresk workshop, “sustainability suggestion box,” eco-design training sessions). 

• Supporting the Environmental Performance Engineer in ongoing activities. 

 Skills required: 

• Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) 

• Environmental engineering 

• Systems engineering 

• Coding (Python, MATLAB, etc.) 

• Design and analysis of aerospace structures (especially launchers) 

Internship duration: 6 months. The position can be offered under a fixed-term contract if the candidate is not a student.

Profile Sought: Master’s student in aerospace engineering, environmental engineering, or related fields that intersect environment and aerospace. 

🎬 Working at MaiaSpace 

You will be joining a friendly multi-disciplinary team, comprised of multi-skilled people, following Agile and Scrum methodologies. This means that your role and responsibility may evolve over time with varied assignments and challenges depending on priorities and competences. Your work will be hands-on and in close contact with the final product. We are open-minded, transparent, pragmatic, result oriented and people centric. Teamwork is at the heart of how we work together and our co-workers share the same fundamental values: respect, humility, reactivity and autonomy with a passion for technical excellence. Our newly acquired office space at La Defense is located within the heart of Europe’s largest purpose built business and commercial district with easy access to public transport. 

Written and spoken communication is in French and English.