career advise

[aerospacejr]

I am currently doing private pilot license I am looking for a four years aerospace engineering by 2019. I am all about space technology and always wounder why things are orbiting and how to put thing to orbit and in air.

SHOULD I FOCUS MY BACHELOR ON ARTIFICIAL MACHINES or SHOULD I BASE THE FOCUS OF MAJOR ON AEROSPACE COMPOSTS e.g. THERMODYNAMICS, AERODYNAMICS AND ALL OTHER AEROSPACE TOPICS.

the reason I am asking this is, All machines operating in the space are Artificial Machines, so inst it good to start learning artificial machine/ machine technology from the start of your career or is it good to learn about aerospace aspect of things and then get an MSC on artificial Machine learning. the 2nd option looks longer for me and i believe it will not give me hands on job on AI and satellites in orbit until I am done with my MSC. But if I go with the AI way i believe I will secure a job while I am studying.

But its not about job, I am talking about which way gives me the hands on access on stufff orbiting the space. Kndly help me out.

thank you

 

[GregLocock]

The only two people I knew who have worked on spacecraft both had conventional engineering degrees, one was mechanical and the other electrical. I very much doubt you'll get work on space going systems as an undergraduate.

Cheers

Greg Locock


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[IRstuff]

I don't think that's strictly true, Greg. There are a number of schools that are involved in nanosats and cubesats as school and possibly as grad student projects. Cubesats are intended for extremely short lifetimes, but also extremely low launch costs:

http://www.interorbital.com/interorbital_06222015_030.htm

https://www.academia.edu/8679069/CubeSat_Market_Analysis_and_Cost_Breakdown

http://www.gizmag.com/tubesat-personal-satellite/22211/

TTFN
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[KENAT]

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "ARTIFICIAL MACHINES" if you want to work on space stuff I'd study Aerospace Engineering or possibly even better Astronautics as the specialization was called at my uni.

If by Artificial Machines you mean artificial intelligence then that's probably most closely tied in with the SW side of things though obviously leverages other aspects.

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[aerostress82]

AI feels like the best way to go. Though there will be so much competition in this field in the next years especially.

As you look like an AI person, the best way to go would be to get an aerospace engineering degree and specialize in automatic control systems in your 3rd and 4th grade (my gut feeling only - please investigate this better).

I believe if you are really interested in AI, you can pull it off by official certification training from universities. AI is still an unknown at some level, so I believe whatever official certification you would add up to your education on top of your aerospace engineering degree specialized in automatic control systems would help a lot.

But again, adding an AI Master's degree on your aerospace undergrad degree will give you the advantage to be selected on such "top skills" jobs compared to the other successful candidates for the same job.

Meanwhile, if you wanna stick with Earth Orbit, there is a whole era of supersonic/hypersonic flights ahead of us. But again, these jobs are nothing like space jobs - so you could get bored.

In the end, a job is the most fun when you do what you love the most, but you won't be able to do what you love %100 of the time in any job too. So, there is always the compromise. If solving puzzles interests you, Aircraft Stress, Aircraft CFD & Space Technology have a lot of them there. But always remember that you won't be able to have a "head advantage" in most of these jobs either before 3-4 years of job experience or a Master's degree+2/3 years experience.

Please just keep all above in mind. University is also not the place to "only" study. So, having fun and learning what you are supposed to learn with a GPA of 2.5-3.0 would get you going into a Master's degree and you wouldn't get too bored if you were having enough fun too. Having a lot of fun in undergrad times also helps you concentrate on your job in the future better as you lived your life at full while completing your university education..

Hope it helps with all the variables that are ahead of you

Spaceship!!
Aerospace Engineer, M.Sc. / Aircraft Stress Engineer

 

[GregLocock]

AI would be about the most useless endeavour for a career in space engineering that I can imagine, for the next 20 years. However, I would be interested in a rational argument to the contrary.

Cheers

Greg Locock


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[WKTaylor]

aerospacejr...

This is a wide career field with more aspects that You can imagine.
for unmanned spacecraft. A few of the broader career areas are...

Structures
Mechanical/electro-mechanical systems
Propulsion systems
Electrical power systems
Electrical/electronic/imaging systems hardware
Systems firmware and software
Space environment and environmental testing
Deep space communications
Vehicle orientation control [mechanisms for positioning/orientation/turning]
Ballistics and trajectories, active navigation, course corrections
Materials/finishes/coatings
etc...

Regards, Wil Taylor

o Trust - But Verify!
o We believe to be true what we prefer to be true. [Unknown]
o For those who believe, no proof is required; for those who cannot believe, no proof is possible. [variation,Stuart Chase]
o Unfortunately, in science what You 'believe' is irrelevant. ["Orion"]
o Learn the rules like a pro, so you can b

 

[aerospacejr]

for me Aerospace engineering = Astronautics/Aeronautics + Artificial Machines orbiting around the earth or outer space. unfortunately this is not the case with most university majors. so I am kind of thinking to invent/ or put togather a major for my self.

to move objects in the space you need to get computer programing, various ways of doing so is engaging in automatic control systems, Robotics Programing and AIs. Adding as much of AI certificate will be handy with a major of Astronautics/Aeronautics It will be a bonus. but gain time vise its a bit challenging and requires more effort and thus I am kind of combining computer science [ Machine learning] with Aeronautical/Astronautically engineering which makes me leave with pretty much no collage live, will it be worth of an effort or not?

the conventional way of Mechanical/Electrical engineering still pays you more then going to as Aerospace engineering based on Salary market.

while I love all the good work the big space actors space x, blockhead M, Boeing and others are doing but I think my journey of space will end up application of the technology through the satellites in orbit.

Nanosats/cubsats will give me satelites in orbit without waiting for university to finish, I only need to put a concept in place with securing some funds and that's me as Aerospce engineer + AI specialist.
My major should look like some thing like this

Private pilot, for fun of flying.
Machine learning on neurosciences/automatic controls or AI certificates,
Astranutical/Aeuronautical engeering with mostly focusd on designing efficient satelites and probs in orbit
Applicable techonologies

As you could see non of above aligns to a regular university curruculam so I have to move it around and skip the routine courses to ensure I get what I want.

IS THIS A PRACTICAL PLAN?

 

[KENAT]

So you plan on rejecting academia & industries definition and insert your own, good luck.

My aerospace systems course as uni covered space propulsion, mechanics (including basic orbital mechanics), guidance & control, computer programming as well as the usual aerospace/astronautics topics like structures, aerodynamics, materials, propulsion...

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