Profile

I work for a company that designs and builds satellites (or spacecraft as they’re called if they are going to a different part of the Solar System).  My job is to work on a mission on the engineering side and make sure it is going to all work together.  It can take many years for a mission to go from idea to completion, so there are lots of things to think about!  I am particularly interested in Earth Observation and climate change and have been involved studies for instruments that will help to detect this from Space.

As the systems engineer for the mission, it is my job to ensure that the spacecraft will work once it all comes together. Most parts are designed by different people, for example the strucure, thermal design and propulsion system. As the design evolves, many things change and so I need to work out the best solutions for the spacecraft overall; not just for each small section. To do this, I might need to do some analysis, using information form lots of places. Or, I might need to talk to people and then make decisions. Other aspect sof my work are to bring new ideas to the design, which might onvolve something that has never been used in Space before. I also take days out of my work to talk to scientists about climate change instruments and go into schools and universities as well. Often we will have people visit where I work and i enjoy showing them all the spacecraft that are being built at the moment. Everyone loves the Mars Rover that we are designing here to go to Mars; the current prototype, Bruno, has a warehouse sandpit to play in as he is tested!