A career of jumping in space suits and walking on the moon still remains a fantasy for many in India. People just imagine themselves doing such things and think there isn’t even a small possibility of pursuing their dreams in real life because, “India mein kahan ho paayega yeh sab.” But if Kalpana Chawla, an Indian-born girl, can do it 13 years ago, working for a US organization, years later, you can be hopeful of many developments in this field, right here in India.
Career Options in Space Science
Avionics
All leading aircraft manufacturers and technologists need expert coders, people adept in coding electronic functions and front-end user interfaces. Ranging from programming languages like C and C++, they have to be comfortable with user-friendly applications to build bug-free algorithms. There are massive investments of many million dollars put on such projects. So, there is a minuscule margin of error with any work that goes into making the launch into space successful, and thus requires extreme proficiency in work.
Space Scientists
Space scientists do their bit in accumulating hours of research and testing for new technologies. They work for countless hours, for the advancement of our species’ exploration of space. Their comprehensive research drives other scientists to study in depth to make new improvements based on what is already explored.
Hardware And Software Integration For Space Rockets
This is one of the most competitive departments. The IT division of space launch programs is responsible for making the space vehicles as lean as possible and highly efficient. Patience is an essential virtue for people of this profession, because if they rush and do not use the right code integrations and combinations on launch day, that has the potential to lead to a massive loss of several hundreds of million dollars, which such agencies cannot afford.
Aerospace engineering is related to the creation and building of aeronautical and aerospace structures for transportation and other uses. If you have an interest in aircraft and rocket developing mechanisms, and in executing their design guidelines, you can look at aerospace engineering as an interesting career pick.
Manufacturing Space Transport
This is a separate division, and is involved in the building of the aircraft and vehicle structures, for successful landing and launching. A lot of on-ground work is put into this field.
Launching and Testing
Testing engineers are the ones who specialize in conducting functional feasibility tests for the launch vehicles. Going ahead and becoming a launching and testing engineer has its own specializations. These engineers have to test everything very thoroughly before putting the vehicle into actual use.
Suit Designer for Astronauts
Companies like SpaceX design their own space suits. Space suit designers are engineers who work with the crew of the spacecraft to design, analyze and test hundreds of suit prototypes. The applicants need at least a bachelor’s degree with two years of experience in structural or composite hardware engineering.
Space Lawyers
Space Lawyers are people with the complete legal know-how of space-focused rights. They execute the legal agreements, on-ground contracts, and take care of any breach of rights when these systems fail or suffer through any accidents. These individuals have information about international laws and look after their client’s rights, who either travel in space or have space-related ownership.
Space Medicine
Travelling into space means a constant impact on the astronauts’ bodies and biological systems. So, these medical professionals work with astronauts to make sure that the impact of such space trips is minimalized on the body. Such courses are only available at a few colleges in the UK, like University College, London and Kings College, London; they are awarded MSc. in Space Physiology and Health.
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What’s Happening in this Industry Globally?
There are many aircraft-related companies leading innovative developments in space transport vehicles. But as an Indian applicant, you should know how India is gearing up with the USA in the global space exploration ecosystem. Have a look at India’s development in global space exploration scene. If the American ecosystem feels like an unfeasible option as an alternative to it, you can check out the German Space Ecosystem and its active participation with European Space Administration.
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