I wanna build rockets!

[Lance_Blade]

Hello everyone Not sure if this is the right sub forum for this, but I couldn't think of anywhere else to put it. I am a Russian-born who moved to England a long time ago and am now studying Aerospace Engineering at Sheffield University. For a while now I've wanted a career in the aerospace industry, more on the space side of things. I am on a masters degree, and in my upcoming third year I will be doing a combination of electrics and control modules, as well as all the standard stuff they teach. Does anyone know what big aerospace companies look for in graduates, exactly? Which direction should I specialise in? Should I leave my department after next year and do my masters in systems and control engineering instead? What is the space industry like in Russia? In Europe? I'm generally looking for any sort of advice, as I'm completely clueless. I can learn French if I have to, to a decent enough level. I'm also fluent in both English and Russian. Is there hope for an aspiring young guy who wants to design and build spacecraft? None of the lecturers at my uni seem to have a clue when it comes to the space industry.

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

Well, the ESA are going to be looking for people to build it’s new manned ATV spacecraft. So, you could either work directly for the ESA (in any country within the EU), or you could work for one of the companies that manufactures things for ESA (such as EADS-Astrium).
If you want to build rockets specifically, you should consider Arianespace.

Some useful sites:

ESA careers: www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Careers_at_ESA
EADS-Astrium careers: www.astrium.eads.net/en/careers
Arianespace careers: www.arianespace.com/careers/career-ops.asp

 

[JamesG]

There is no reason why you shouldn't be able to get a job in the A/S industry right out of school. You may be down in the trenches working on mundane "nuts and bolts" stuff (literally) at first. But start putting out feelers now to get job prospects, maybe an internship, BEFORE you graduate, and its highly possible.

Oh and, you are as likely to "need" Portuguese or Chinese as much as English, French, or Russian.

 

[bpops]

From those I know in mechanical engineering when I was undergrad, it seems your best bet to get into an internship as soon as possible while still in school.

 

[simonpro]

Oh and, you are as likely to "need" Portuguese or Chinese as much as English, French, or Russian.

This is not true. For employment at ESA French or English is a requirement. One other European language is a bonus, as is Russian.

I would agree with internships. If you want to work for a company rather than taking the academic route then do an internship, at the moment it's about the only way to get a decent job in the field.
EADS-Astrium are also quite poopular, they will be able to offer you a number of basic jobs upon completion of your masters degree.
Pete also has some good advice (even if it is blinkered by a blindness to anything that isn't spam in a can). You may want to check out ESTEC, that's the primary site for ESA spacecraft assembly, although they have other locations in Sweden, Italy, France and Spain.

Aside from that have you considered the academic route? You'll get a lot more job freedom and get to work on some interesting projects - including a lot more hands on work than you'll ever get in a private company.

 

[Lance_Blade]

Thanks for all your advice guys

simonpro, what is the academic route? Is it literally being a researcher in a lab? I think I prefer the idea of designing something...but I'm very young so this may well change. Like I said, completely clueless.

I didn't know placements were so important. Ah well, there is still time to get one between my 3rd and 4th year. What do EADS Astrium do? Is it mostly military stuff? What do people at ESA actually do? Do they build things themselves, or do they simply buy up Arianespace's rockets and launch them?

 

[Lunar_Lander]

I have to tell you that EADS Astrium is quite known to never reply on any request that is sent to them. I don't know how they handle papers by new people, but that they don't answer simple questions speaks for itself I think.

ESA might be a better chance, given that they have offices in all European countries as it had been said already. Arianespace coordinates the construction of Ariane parts all across Europe and then launches the rocket. They are independent of ESA AFAIK, because any space company can buy Ariane Launches. ESA then designs missions. But I don't know if they leave the design of, say, a research satellite to the Sat company or if they make the plans themselves.

 

[ar81]

If I was you, I would do some volunteer work in a filed that is compatible with your career. That would help you to gain some name and might help you to acquire some experience about the field.

Be prepared to get a "NO" many times. Never give up.

 

[wehaveaproblem]

I don't know anything first hand about this and the advice so far seems very sensible, but I'm bored at work so thought I would drop in my 2c.

Have you considered one of the growing commercial venture companies, like Bigelow or Scaled Composites? May not be mainstream enough for you, but commercial space ventures may be a future worth getting involved with... ?

 

[simonpro]

simonpro, what is the academic route? Is it literally being a researcher in a lab? I think I prefer the idea of designing something...but I'm very young so this may well change. Like I said, completely clueless.

It means that you do a masters degree followed, usually, by a doctoral degree. You must have PhD students in your department, so I'd suggest talking to them for a better idea of what this entails. You get to do lots of hands on work, way more than at a company, and have lots of freedom in what to do. If I worked at a company then I'd be doing the same boring **** every day, but in a university you can be working on programming one day, working in a clean room the next day and spend the following day in meetings with colleagues trying to figure out a better way to build something.
If you wish to stay in the UK then I'd suggest either Cranfield or Leicester, they're pretty much the only good locations in the field. One of the london ones (UCL I think) and Southampton are fairly good too, but do less engineering work.

I have to tell you that EADS Astrium is quite known to never reply on any request that is sent to them. I don't know how they handle papers by new people, but that they don't answer simple questions speaks for itself I think.

They do not accept speculative job applications. If you're not applying for an advertised job then they'll ignore you.

Have you considered one of the growing commercial venture companies, like Bigelow or Scaled Composites? May not be mainstream enough for you, but commercial space ventures may be a future worth getting involved with... ?

Scaled, SpaceX, Orbital and (probably, not looked) Bigelow require US citizenship as you need security clearance for much of their work.

(edit) Only just noticed that this place blocks swearwords. Geez, it's like being 5 years old.

 

[JamesG]

This is not true. For employment at ESA French or English is a requirement. One other European language is a bonus, as is Russian...

That was an allusion to the fact that there is more to the A/S industry than just NASA or ESA.

China, Brazil, Japan, India, and even Korea are up and coming space powers. And while most positions will be filled by native educated, it may pay to keep an eye on job prospects from countries and companies from other places.

 

[simonpro]

That was an allusion to the fact that there is more to the A/S industry than just NASA or ESA.

China, Brazil, Japan, India, and even Korea are up and coming space powers. And while most positions will be filled by native educated, it may pay to keep an eye on job prospects from countries and companies from other places.

If you want to build things for the Korean space agency then you may as well
just apply to the Russian one. Japan is hardly an up and coming space power, they've had launchers for decades. China won't employ a westerner.

 

[insanity]

I have a mate who went to Sheffield University and got a pretty nice engineering job straight away. Next time I talk to him I'll ask him if he has any advice for you.