Hey, are you an astronomy enthusiast, a dedicated engineer, an apprentice researcher, a science fiction fan or even a kid with his head in the stars like I once was? If so, read on. My name is William and I’m a French student engineer with a single dream: to discover space. I’m on a 4-month internship with the OeWF, where I work with a group of dedicated people whose only aim is to advance the discovery of space. I study computer science but my desire to discover space has resurfaced when it came to looking for an internship. So, I spent a lot of time looking for an internship that would enable me to introduce the themes I wanted to discover, and I came across the OeWF, which was in the middle of its AMADEE-24 mission at the time.

Arriving at the OeWF, I was immediately put at ease and confronted with the reality of things. Working in the field of space requires a certain rigor and methodology in the work. We don’t think we can do it, but we quickly realize that we have the capacity to do things well. I was led to show that I know how to work with precision and speed but also and especially with conviction. The bulk of my work so far has been to design a kind of astronaut suit called “Delta Suit”. I brainstormed a lot with my colleagues and then I modeled pieces that I printed, I drew, cut, glued and painted all kinds of material until I arrived at the final product of a rigorous work. 

In any work, we need help because it is teamwork that pays and that is why even if we are a small group, we all seek to give our opinion and our help to not miss any knowledge. Whether it is colleagues you see every day or infrequent outside help, we always manage to think in a good mood around a subject that fascinates us all.

With this good working atmosphere, we are entitled to the beautiful landscape of Innsbruck. Even if for some Innsbruck it is just mountains, but it is much more than that. It is a pleasant place where I could meet very friendly and understanding people, adapt to a new culture and hear a language that I had always considered incomprehensible and impossible to learn until now.

Author: William Ferreira, OeWF intern

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