Internship at the Bodensee

Who is thus cool guy with his earphones and shades behind the steering wheel?

Make a good guess, it's me driving to my work at the company EADS ASTRIUM.

I just started my industrial internship there in mid August. My work is on attitude and orbit control of three-axes satellites. In particular, in one project I have to come up with actuation algorithms for attitude regulation and attitude manoeuvres using thrusters as only actuators. The other project is about H_infinity control of satellites. Sounds boring for those of you who aren't into cybernetics, right? So let us skip this part, I am not allowed anyways to publish any pictures or confidential information. One of the best parts of my work besides the 35 hour week is the location of the company at the Bodensee (Lake Constance).


We even have our own company beach ;) The Bodensee is renown for its almost mediterranean climate at the Northern side of the Alps. And indeed, you could feel the mediterranean in the summer:

Nice, isn't it? And the best part of the Bodensee is that it's right at the Alps.

I have a cute room in a filthy shared appartment. But my roommates are fun and I only have a 5 minutes bike ride to work. Here you can see me riding through the apple gardens in the morning... another day of satellite control begins.

Since I only have a 35 hour week, I usually work from Monday afternoon to Thursday evening, the rest is free time! And what is there better to do with free time than spending it with Katrin, who just got back from Canada!

It didn't take a lot of effort to infect her with the pleasure of slacklining. So we hiked up a small hill at Bregenz high above the Bodensee

and did some slacklining there.

A really pleasant atmosphere on an Austrian mountain, next to cows, and on the line!

We also went cycling there and passed through the Bavarian island of Lindau. Here you can see the Bavarian Lion ... home sweet home :)

Another trip took us to the region of Appenzell in Switzerland. Appenzell is just as Swiss as it could possible be, but see yourself:

We passed the Arizona bar (not typical Swiss for those who don't know)r ight under the mountain Säntis, where we wanted to do some mountain climbing.

Unfortunately, we missed the right way leading to the summit, but we had a fun afternoon as well. Now isn't that Katrin in a picture card Swiss alpine meadow?

Well, bikers weren't allowed there :(

So in short, the Bodensee is a wonderful place to be, really scenic, and my work is fun, too. But as soon as it got Autumn

such picturesque weather became quite rare and fog was rolling in every day. It feels a little remote down here at the Bodensee because most of my friends are either in Stuttgart, Inssbruck, or Munich. So I will make use of my four day long weekends and visit Katrin and my friends every weekend.