Project Officer - Prospect ISRU; Milton Keynes, ENG, GB, MKAA

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About the Role

The Open University is seeking to appoint a Project Officer to support the experimental, technical and data-focused activities associated with the ESA PROSPECT mission, with a particular emphasis on in situ resource utilisation (ISRU) experiments and ProSPA operations development. The role will contribute directly to the validation of PROSPECT science requirements, optimisation of ProSPA operational modes, and preparation of a data pipeline for use by the PROSPECT Science Team (PST).

The postholder will work closely with academic Investigators, the ProSPA industrial team, and ESA to ensure that ISRU experiments, data pipeline and operational elements of the project are delivered to a high scientific and technical standard.

The ProSPA instrument, within the PROSPECT payload, will demonstrate ISRU through the hydrogen reduction of ilmenite to produce water on the lunar surface. Unlike conventional laboratory approaches, ProSPA relies on diffusion-driven gas transport under lunar-relevant pressure and temperature conditions, placing strong constraints on experimental design, operational sequencing and data interpretation.

This important ground-based experimental work using analogue materials, lunar simulants and Apollo soils is required to validate ProSPA operational parameters, understand reaction kinetics, and ensure that flight data can be reliably interpreted. In parallel, integrated data pipelines must be developed to combine instrument telemetry, mass spectrometer outputs and housekeeping data into accessible, calibrated datasets for PST members.

Key Responsibilities

The person appointed to this post will undertake duties to include:

• Manage, plan, and coordinate Evolved Gas Analysis (EGA) and ISRU experiments in collaboration with the wider PROSPECT Science team and the ProSPA industrial team.
• Conduct EGA and ISRU experiments using lunar simulants, as well as experiments on lunar soil samples using Bench Development Model/Qualification Model/Pre Flight Model at The Open University, across lunar-relevant pressure (P), temperature (T) and compositional (X) parameter space.
• Contribute to the build and commissioning of a ProSPA-representative ISRU manifold, incorporating flight-like valve configurations, a manifold block and pressure-sensing hardware.
• Support ISRU-related experiments investigating hydrogen reduction of ilmenite under diffusion-controlled conditions using representative manifolds and valve systems.
• Evaluate the effects of grain size and hydrogen pressure on reaction rates during hydrogen reduction experiments
• Use experimental results to inform recommendations for ProSPA operational modes and constraints.
• Assist in the preparation of user-focused documentation, including “How-To” guides describing data processing steps and data product usage.
• Make regular presentations to the project team and the wider PROSPECT Science Team to report progress, present results, and receive scientific and technical feedback.
• Prepare detailed technical reports summarising experimental methods, results and implications for ProSPA operations and PROSPECT science objectives.
• Contribute to the development of these reports into material suitable for inclusion in future peer-reviewed publications, in collaboration with Investigators and the PST.

Data Pipeline Development, Integration, processing and archiving:

• Development of data reduction and calibration pipelines for PROSPECT EGA and ISRU modes.
• Integration of ProSPA data pipeline software
• Coordinate with the PROSPECT Science team to ensure consistency in data reduction philosophy, formatting and documentation across datasets.
• Contribute to the processing and formatting of raw telemetry, Quicklook and calibrated…