Becoming a NASA astronaut or going to Mars is often the first thing people think about when it comes to having a space career.
But, while there are more astronaut training opportunities than ever, actual openings for space travel are still limited.
The truth is there's so much more on offer when it comes to space jobs.
And it's worth considering some of the Earth-based space jobs now available, many of which are here because of cheaper satellite technology and a boom in private space industry funding.
She's the only Australian working in mission control for the International Space Station (ISS).
Based at the European Space Agency, she works with teams in Europe, Japan, Russia and the US to keep the ISS on track and to support the onboard astronauts as they carry out scientific experiments and other activities.
Andrea is a Eurocom specialist, which means she has a broad overview of the experiments and acts as a communication channel between the crew, flight director, and various specialists on the ground.
"A Eurocom is the person that talks to the astronauts on a day-to-day basis," says Andrea.
She adds that the astronauts like to know who they're talking to back on Earth.
Every three months there's a different combination of crew and every six months a new set of experiments ranging from medical to materials science.
"We're above politics," Andrea told ABC Canberra.
"It's full-on science all day with a break for lunch and they have to do their exercise during the day … There's never a dull day at work."
And it gets particularly interesting when the astronauts have a problem and mission control has to solve it on the spot.
"Given astronauts are smart people, the problem is likely to be quite difficult," she says.
Andrea says she learnt the word "engineer" at age 10 watching Star Trek Voyager's Chief Engineer Belanna Torres making things in space work.
Andrea studied mechatronic engineering at university, did volunteer space work, gained experience in robotics and automation engineering, and then worked for many years in mining engineering before landing her job at the ISS six years ago.
Chris Willshire has one of these jobs — he works at a start-up company called Fleet where he designs components for satellite systems.
Like Andrea, he also studied mechatronics at university, and for his honours degree he invented a new type of autonomous drone that could fly in turbulent wind gusts.
He was literally walking home after handing in his thesis when he got a phone call with an offer for a job in the space industry.
"Space comes with a whole new set of challenges," he says.
Anything that is sent up into space has to survive a rocket launch, for a start. Then there's the harsh extremes of temperature, the lack of gravity, and the fact that you have to control everything remotely.
Chris is currently working on cubesats — shoebox-sized satellites — that will allow remote sensing of the environment anywhere in the world.
He manages a team that is building ground-based 'portals' to collect customised wireless signals from nearby sensors and beams the signal up to the satellite 600 kilometres overhead in Low Earth Orbit (LEO).
Such a system could be useful, for example, on large remote farms where sensors measure soil moisture levels over large distances and send data via the portal to a satellite.
The data can then be zapped back down to Earth and via internet to a farmer's computer to help them decide whether to water crops or not.
The sensor systems could also be used for monitoring water pollution on the Great Barrier Reef or the temperature of perishables travelling over long distances.
Tim Broadbent controls a number of GEO communication satellites in his job at Optus.
He works 12-hour shifts on a 24/7 roster with 10 others and among other things has to make sure the satellites stay in their allotted 70-kilometre cubed bit of space.
"It's like being an air traffic controller except instead of the plane being flown by a pilot, it's flown by a computer, and it's just a lot further away and it never lands."
A typical day for Tim involves running routine checks, but being on standby for any emergencies.
Once he had to dodge a Russian rocket and another time he was involved in the nail-biting process of putting a failing satellite out of action — by shooting it out into the so-called "Graveyard Orbit".
As a kid, Tim wanted to be a NASA astronaut but he was put off by the barriers in place. He did a degree in aerospace engineering and just finished a masters in satellite systems engineering.
Even though he feels very lucky to land what he calls a "real" space job without having to go overseas, Tim now wishes he'd studied mechatronics — a classic degree for people wanting to work in automation and robotics.
But, he says, his aerospace degree could still prove useful.
"It could come in handy if I ever go and work for someone who launches rockets!"
She got her first telescope from Santa Claus when she was just eight years old, and quickly decided she wanted to be an astrophysicist, although this soon changed to engineer.
"I was always making, fixing and breaking things," she says.
In 2015, while part-way through an aerospace engineering degree. Solange started a company called Cuberider.
It gets high-school students to design and carry out experiments on the International Space Station.
The students are responsible for coding that controls sensors used in experiments on the ISS.
Student projects have included using microgravity data to create a virtual reality simulation for astronaut or space tourist training; using humidity measurements to develop moisturising cream for astronauts; and using pressure measurements to test the effectiveness of ISS pressurisation system.
"These are kids aged 11-16, so it's pretty amazing," says Solange.
She says the aim is to educate and inspire.
"I don't think there's anything that can trump being involved in a project that has significance to our species and our planet"
"Even just talking about there being billions of stars in our Galaxy … that's an unfathomable number. And there are a thousand things like that in space."
As far as space careers, Solange is excited in particular about occupations in space medicine and space psychology.
"They have to think about humans trapped in a small space for a long time a long way from the rest of humanity," she says.
"As humans become more interplanetary the number of jobs in space is going to grow. You'll have things like an Earth specialisation or a Mars specialisation."
"The growing number of space start-up companies in Australia do not have access to specialised space lawyers and are struggling to find commercial lawyers with significant experience in space-related transactions," says Donna Lawler.
She works as assistant general counsel at Optus, advising on regulations and negotiating contracts that determine things like who is responsible when things go wrong with satellite launches.
And accidents in space tends to be a lot more serious than those on the ground, says Donna — so much so they are called "space calamaties".
They include rockets or satellites crashing into things on the earth or in space, or becoming dangerous space junk.
And beyond these issues, space lawyers may also find themselves on the cutting edge. For example, while the 1967 Outer Space Treaty only allows for space to be used for "peaceful purposes", Donna says there is hot debate about whether this means the military can use weapons in space.
And while no one is supposed to be able to have ownership of space, she says there is a lack of clarity around exploitation of resources in space, for example asteroid mining.
Donna recommends anyone interested in becoming a space lawyer should study commercial law, international law and space law. And it's helpful to have a background in science too, she says.
Donna happens to be married to Steven Freeland, who lectures in space law and is Dean of Western Sydney University's law school. Steven says while some claim that space begins above 100 kilometres up, there is actually no international agreement on where space starts.
And a lot of activities actually occur at high altitude levels below 100 kilometres.
So, if a space tourist flight took people up 80 kilometres could they still legally claim they had taken them into space?
Australia is currently rewriting its space law and an expert panel, which Steven is involved in, is drawing up a charter for the country's newly-proposed space agency.
Others include space medicine or space psychology — which involves studying such things as the effects on astronauts of weightlessness, radiation or long periods away from home in a confined environment.
And then there are even space archaeologists and space anthropologists who study different aspects of the interface between space activities and humanity.
But, while there are more astronaut training opportunities than ever, actual openings for space travel are still limited.
The truth is there's so much more on offer when it comes to space jobs.
And it's worth considering some of the Earth-based space jobs now available, many of which are here because of cheaper satellite technology and a boom in private space industry funding.
Space flight controller
Imagine watching 16 sunrises and 16 sunsets every day and chatting with astronauts orbiting Earth. That's what Andrea Boyd does.She's the only Australian working in mission control for the International Space Station (ISS).
Based at the European Space Agency, she works with teams in Europe, Japan, Russia and the US to keep the ISS on track and to support the onboard astronauts as they carry out scientific experiments and other activities.
Andrea is a Eurocom specialist, which means she has a broad overview of the experiments and acts as a communication channel between the crew, flight director, and various specialists on the ground.
"A Eurocom is the person that talks to the astronauts on a day-to-day basis," says Andrea.
She adds that the astronauts like to know who they're talking to back on Earth.
Every three months there's a different combination of crew and every six months a new set of experiments ranging from medical to materials science.
"We're above politics," Andrea told ABC Canberra.
"It's full-on science all day with a break for lunch and they have to do their exercise during the day … There's never a dull day at work."
And it gets particularly interesting when the astronauts have a problem and mission control has to solve it on the spot.
"Given astronauts are smart people, the problem is likely to be quite difficult," she says.
Andrea says she learnt the word "engineer" at age 10 watching Star Trek Voyager's Chief Engineer Belanna Torres making things in space work.
Andrea studied mechatronic engineering at university, did volunteer space work, gained experience in robotics and automation engineering, and then worked for many years in mining engineering before landing her job at the ISS six years ago.
Satellite engineer
There are a growing number of jobs in designing and building rockets, satellites and spacecraft.Chris Willshire has one of these jobs — he works at a start-up company called Fleet where he designs components for satellite systems.
Like Andrea, he also studied mechatronics at university, and for his honours degree he invented a new type of autonomous drone that could fly in turbulent wind gusts.
He was literally walking home after handing in his thesis when he got a phone call with an offer for a job in the space industry.
"Space comes with a whole new set of challenges," he says.
Anything that is sent up into space has to survive a rocket launch, for a start. Then there's the harsh extremes of temperature, the lack of gravity, and the fact that you have to control everything remotely.
Chris is currently working on cubesats — shoebox-sized satellites — that will allow remote sensing of the environment anywhere in the world.
He manages a team that is building ground-based 'portals' to collect customised wireless signals from nearby sensors and beams the signal up to the satellite 600 kilometres overhead in Low Earth Orbit (LEO).
Such a system could be useful, for example, on large remote farms where sensors measure soil moisture levels over large distances and send data via the portal to a satellite.
The data can then be zapped back down to Earth and via internet to a farmer's computer to help them decide whether to water crops or not.
The sensor systems could also be used for monitoring water pollution on the Great Barrier Reef or the temperature of perishables travelling over long distances.
Satellite controller
Far beyond the orbit of the International Space Station are satellites in Geosynchronous (GEO) orbit — they stay in the same spot above Earth.Tim Broadbent controls a number of GEO communication satellites in his job at Optus.
He works 12-hour shifts on a 24/7 roster with 10 others and among other things has to make sure the satellites stay in their allotted 70-kilometre cubed bit of space.
"It's like being an air traffic controller except instead of the plane being flown by a pilot, it's flown by a computer, and it's just a lot further away and it never lands."
A typical day for Tim involves running routine checks, but being on standby for any emergencies.
Once he had to dodge a Russian rocket and another time he was involved in the nail-biting process of putting a failing satellite out of action — by shooting it out into the so-called "Graveyard Orbit".
As a kid, Tim wanted to be a NASA astronaut but he was put off by the barriers in place. He did a degree in aerospace engineering and just finished a masters in satellite systems engineering.
Even though he feels very lucky to land what he calls a "real" space job without having to go overseas, Tim now wishes he'd studied mechatronics — a classic degree for people wanting to work in automation and robotics.
But, he says, his aerospace degree could still prove useful.
"It could come in handy if I ever go and work for someone who launches rockets!"
Space entrepreneur
Self-confessed "space evangelist" Solange Cunin grew up in a "very low-tech" environment on a farm in northern NSW but has been interested in space since she was a child.She got her first telescope from Santa Claus when she was just eight years old, and quickly decided she wanted to be an astrophysicist, although this soon changed to engineer.
"I was always making, fixing and breaking things," she says.
In 2015, while part-way through an aerospace engineering degree. Solange started a company called Cuberider.
It gets high-school students to design and carry out experiments on the International Space Station.
The students are responsible for coding that controls sensors used in experiments on the ISS.
Student projects have included using microgravity data to create a virtual reality simulation for astronaut or space tourist training; using humidity measurements to develop moisturising cream for astronauts; and using pressure measurements to test the effectiveness of ISS pressurisation system.
"These are kids aged 11-16, so it's pretty amazing," says Solange.
She says the aim is to educate and inspire.
"I don't think there's anything that can trump being involved in a project that has significance to our species and our planet"
"Even just talking about there being billions of stars in our Galaxy … that's an unfathomable number. And there are a thousand things like that in space."
As far as space careers, Solange is excited in particular about occupations in space medicine and space psychology.
"They have to think about humans trapped in a small space for a long time a long way from the rest of humanity," she says.
"As humans become more interplanetary the number of jobs in space is going to grow. You'll have things like an Earth specialisation or a Mars specialisation."
Space lawyer
With the upsurge in activity in space there is an increasing need for space lawyers."The growing number of space start-up companies in Australia do not have access to specialised space lawyers and are struggling to find commercial lawyers with significant experience in space-related transactions," says Donna Lawler.
She works as assistant general counsel at Optus, advising on regulations and negotiating contracts that determine things like who is responsible when things go wrong with satellite launches.
And accidents in space tends to be a lot more serious than those on the ground, says Donna — so much so they are called "space calamaties".
They include rockets or satellites crashing into things on the earth or in space, or becoming dangerous space junk.
And beyond these issues, space lawyers may also find themselves on the cutting edge. For example, while the 1967 Outer Space Treaty only allows for space to be used for "peaceful purposes", Donna says there is hot debate about whether this means the military can use weapons in space.
And while no one is supposed to be able to have ownership of space, she says there is a lack of clarity around exploitation of resources in space, for example asteroid mining.
Donna recommends anyone interested in becoming a space lawyer should study commercial law, international law and space law. And it's helpful to have a background in science too, she says.
Donna happens to be married to Steven Freeland, who lectures in space law and is Dean of Western Sydney University's law school. Steven says while some claim that space begins above 100 kilometres up, there is actually no international agreement on where space starts.
And a lot of activities actually occur at high altitude levels below 100 kilometres.
So, if a space tourist flight took people up 80 kilometres could they still legally claim they had taken them into space?
Australia is currently rewriting its space law and an expert panel, which Steven is involved in, is drawing up a charter for the country's newly-proposed space agency.
And more...
While space engineering and data analysis may dominate the Australian space jobs market, being a space lawyer is just one space career that doesn't focus on the physical sciences.Others include space medicine or space psychology — which involves studying such things as the effects on astronauts of weightlessness, radiation or long periods away from home in a confined environment.
And then there are even space archaeologists and space anthropologists who study different aspects of the interface between space activities and humanity.
No comments:
Post a Comment