StudyDesk Scholarships
About the internship
The European Space Agency (ESA) runs an annual Student Internship programme that places university students inside real ESA teams — engineering, science, Earth observation, telecommunications, operations, and the corporate functions that keep a space agency flying. Internships run three to six months and are on site at ESA establishments, so this is a genuine placement inside Europe’s space program, not a remote project.
On money, the wording matters: ESA officially describes the internships as “unpaid”, but every intern receives a monthly allowance — €800 for non-residents (students living more than 50 km from the establishment, plus students with special needs regardless of where they live) and €500 for residents. Interns arrange and pay for their own health insurance, accident insurance, travel and accommodation, so budget the allowance against the cost of living near the establishment.
Eligibility
- Be a student, preferably in the final or second-to-last year of a master’s-level university course.
- Hold student status and stay enrolled at your university for the entire duration of the internship.
- Be a citizen of an ESA Member State, an Associate Member, a European Cooperating State, or Canada as a Cooperating State — the programme is not open to all nationalities.
- PhD students should not apply — ESA directs them to the Research Fellowship programme instead.
- Respect the limits: one ESA internship per person, ever, and a maximum of two applications per call — submit more than two and all of them are disregarded.
Benefits
- €800/month allowance for non-residents (over 50 km from the establishment; also students with special needs) or €500/month for residents.
- Three to six months on site at an ESA establishment, working inside a real mission or corporate team.
- A placement inside Europe’s space program — engineering, science, Earth observation, operations and more.
- Note the intern’s own costs: health insurance, accident insurance, travel and accommodation are on you.
Documents required
- CV and motivation letter — both required to create your candidate profile on the ESA recruitment site.
- Your answers to the application-form questions for each opportunity you apply to.
- No other required documents are published in the official notification.
How to apply
- Set a job alert nowThe 2027 call is not yet open — register on jobs.esa.int and set an alert so you are notified the day internship opportunities go live in November.
- Prepare your CV and motivation letter earlyBoth are mandatory for the candidate profile; have them polished before the one-month window opens.
- Pick at most two opportunitiesWhen the call opens, browse the listings and choose carefully — the limit is two applications per call, and a third gets all of them thrown out.
- Submit within the windowThe call runs about a month (the annual pattern suggests early-to-late November 2026) — do not assume it will be extended.
- Ask ESA directly if unsureInternship questions go to ESA.Student.Internships@esa.int.
FAQs
No. You must be a citizen of an ESA Member State, an Associate Member, a European Cooperating State, or Canada as a Cooperating State. Some aggregator sites wrongly claim “all nationalities” — the official FAQ restricts eligibility.
ESA uses the word “unpaid”, but every intern receives a monthly allowance: €800 for non-residents (— or students with special needs) and €500 for residents. Health insurance, accident insurance, travel and accommodation are your own costs.
No. ESA tells PhD students not to apply for internships and points them to the Research Fellowship programme instead. The internships target master’s-level students, preferably in their final or penultimate year.
Two per call — and ESA is strict: more than two means all your applications are disregarded. Across your lifetime, you may only ever do one ESA internship.
Not yet published. ESA opens the call each November for about a month; the annual pattern points to November 2026 with earliest starts in February 2027. Set a job alert on jobs.esa.int rather than guessing the date.
Verified 24 Oct 2026: esa.int/About_Us/Careers_at_ESA/Student_Internships2 (official) + Student internships FAQ (official) — annual call each November for ~1 month, on-site 3–6 months, “unpaid” with monthly allowance, master’s final/penultimate year, student status for full duration, PhD students excluded, ESA Member/Associate/Cooperating States + Canada only, 1 internship per person, max 2 applications per call, job alerts, ESA.Student.Internships@esa.int; cosmos.esa.int/web/science-internships (official ESA science site) — €800 non-resident / €500 resident allowance figures; jobs.esa.int (official portal) — no open internship vacancies as of 24 Oct 2026, confirming the 2027 call is not yet published; scholarshipbob.com — corroborating summary (3–6 months, allowance model, starts from Feb 2027). Exact 2027 call dates not published in the official notification; the Nov–~30 Nov 2026 window is the annual pattern. The separate EAC school internship (deadline 30 Sep 2026) is a different programme.
