Working in the space sector
In the 20th century, most people would have considered being an astronaut the number one job related to space. Now, in the 21st century, opportunities to work in the space industry have broadened considerably!
Working in space
The Big Bang and dark energy, mātauranga Māori and Māori astronomy, lakes and water quality, science fiction novels and movies – these are just a few of the things that inspired engineers and scientists to get involved in the space sector.
Questions for discussion:
Which expert do you relate to the most? Why?
How does working with programming languages like Scratch and Alice help prepare people for aerospace jobs?
Pauline is an astrophysicist and an expert in tātai arorangi. She speaks about both bodies of knowledge having their own mana and sometimes overlapping, which she calls the interface. What do you think she means when she says she enjoys looking at the interface?
How are scientists like Moritz and Sarah connected to the space sector?
Are you interested in working in space? Who or what has been your inspiration?
Aotearoa New Zealand has its own space industry that is busy and growing all the time. A number of roles exist that are connected to space in some way, and very few of them involve astronauts. The space industry is involved with:
what goes up to space – satellites and micro laboratories
what we can see from space – remote sensing and greenhouse gases
how to send things to space – rockets and remotely piloted aerospace planes
how to keep things safe and working in space
how to get things down from space – digital satellite data and spent rocket parts.
So how do you get a job in the space industry? Where do you start?
Education for space-related careers
Pathways into the space industry vary with each individual. For instance, Peter Beck (Rocket Lab) and Mark Rocket (Kea Aerospace) didn’t go to university but are now leading and innovating in their own space companies.
Many people who work in the aerospace industry think science, technology and mathematics are important subjects to study – even if they found them difficult at times. When Dr Beata Bukosa studied physics at school, she didn’t understand some of it and had to work hard. Her efforts paid off – she’s an atmospheric modeller with the MethaneSAT mission working with lead scientist Dr Sara Mikaloff-Fletcher. Sara, on the other hand, enjoyed writing and art more than science, but today, she uses ground and satellite technology to observe greenhouse gases. Sometimes attitude and curiosity are just as important as good grades!
There are other pathways, too. Studying languages helps us think about the world in different ways. For instance, Dr Pauline Harris talks about what happens at the interface of science and mātauranga Māori with the work she does as an astrophysicist, cosmologist and kairangahau Māori at the University of Wellington.
Jennifer Blackburne earned a tennis scholarship, which took her to university to study mechanical engineering. Experience in coding with Scratch helped Juliet McLachlan understand the computational thinking that led to her work as a flight operations software engineer. Juliet also enjoyed art, design and music at school.
So you want to work in space?
Space entrepreneur Mark Rocket says that the aerospace industry needs the full spectrum of people joining it. But what does it take to work in the sector? Watch as a few experts describe the dispositions that can help make space jobs happen.
And remember the words of David Perenara-O’Connell: “Be innovative, think outside the square, because careers that we think of today are not going to be the careers of tomorrow.”
Statements for discussion:
If you look at what most astronauts did – they are not often engineers – they’re medical doctors, they are geologists, they’re biologists. You can come from literally any background to get involved in the space or aerospace industry.
We need diversity because diverse teams solve problems quicker, better, more effectively.
We need Māori rangatahi to be present to develop things that are important to us as Māori.
We also need people who are great communicators.
We’re trying to solve problems that are incredibly complex. All of the easy ones have already been done quite some time ago.
If your teachers aren’t providing you with the knowledge that you are passionate about and that you want to learn, you have to reach out and find that knowledge yourself.
Attitudes and dispositions
People working in the space industry have identified attitudes and dispositions they find useful, including:
being curious and asking questions about how and why things work
being a self-starter and proactive
being co-operative and collaborative
having creativity to think outside the box
being a logical thinker
having persistence and resilience when things get tough
enjoying building things by hand or on a computer
enjoying attending clubs, networks and events about space.
Do you recognise any of these dispositions in yourself? They aren’t limited to what you do at school. They can apply to sports and hobbies too!
Space-related jobs
People working in space-related jobs might begin their careers anywhere, such as in teaching or photography or working with maps, and later move into a job related to space. Alternatively, they might start in an industry that already has some connections with space such as working with radar or software engineering and keep moving further into space-related roles.
The experts who appear in the video below are a small representation of Aotearoa New Zealand’s aerospace sector, but they’ve had a huge variety of jobs, hobbies and interests! Former and curren t jobs include:
air traffic controller
biochemist
biodiversity scientist
communications technologist
data analyst
educational resource developer
electrical engineer
map maker
mechanical engineer
oceanographer
photographer
researcher
sailor
satellite engineer
software engineer
technician
television produce r
user interface designer
videographer.
The space industry in Aotearoa
The Aotearoa New Zealand space sector is growing rapidly. This video introduces 13 experts who work in a variety of fields in science, engineering and mātauranga Māori.
Jargon alert:
Aerospace ecosystem: a network of businesses, research institutes and other organisations that have an interest in aerospace. The term is modelled on the interacting systems within environmental ecosystems.
Questions for discussion:
Many of the experts mention attitudes and aptitudes – what do you think they mean by not being afraid of the unknown, big visions and things happening on the edge?
Why is having a seat at the table regarding the use and regulation of space important?
How does having a space industry help Aotearoa become self-reliant?
The New Zealand Space Agency is Aotearoa New Zealand’s lead government agency for space sector development. It notes that there are lots of other jobs beyond science, engineering and technology. The space industry also needs people with skills in communications, ethics and law. Most importantly, young people need to be ready to take on the challenge of doing jobs that don’t even exist at the moment!
Making a model satellite dish
Being curious and having a go at building things – like a model satellite dish – are attributes commonly found in people who work in the space industry.
Related content
Meet some other scientists whose work intersects with the space sector:
Dr Allan McInnes is an electrical and electronics engineer who worked on the B-2 stealth bomber and the Mars exploration rovers.
Dr Wolfgang Rack and Dr Adrian McDonald both use satellites in their icy fieldwork in Antarctica.
Kelvin Barnsdale’s expertise in radio frequencies and electronics led to work on Space Shuttle missions and designing GPS systems.
Warwick Holmes is an avionics systems engineer who helped to build, test and launch the Rosetta spacecraft.
Avinash Rao spent 6 years at Rocket Lab and became CEO at Argo Navis Aerospace.
Our collection Working in the space sector curates resources highlighting the diversity of roles that exist in New Zealand's growing place in space – whether it is a space-related job or deepening the understand of tātai arorangi.
Activity ideas
Can I work in the space industry? fosters blue-sky thinking about how and where tamariki and rangatahi might see themselves in the space industry.
Get a taste of some types of thinking that happens in the space sector:
Creating a space treaty – for writers, thinkers and future policy developers
Making digital space debris clean-up games – for software engineers and computer scientists
Interpreting observations from satellite images – for people interested in looking after te taiao
Validating remote sensing observations – for modellers and computer scientists
Get a taste of engineering, building things and problem solving:
Useful links
Explore the websites for these Aotearoa New Zealand space organisations/businesses:
Acknowledgement
This resource has been produced with funding from the Ministry of Business, and Employment and the support of the New Zealand Space Agency.
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and the New Zealand Space Agency
The New Zealand Space Agency, part of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, is the lead government agency for space policy, regulation and sector development.
