Profile

Hello!

I work at the European Space Agency in the Netherlands. My job is very varied, working on all kinds of projects to design the next “Earth Observation” satellites that will be launched. These are the satellites that look down on the Earth, watching it in all kinds of ways to determine how the planet works and what effects we’re having on it. At the moment, there are around 120 such satellites looking at the Earth in many different ways, with all kinds of sensors such as cameras, radars and magnetic field detectors. This information is used everyday on the ground by farmers looking to look after their crops, climatologists measuring the ice caps and many others.

My job is to design the satellites themselves. Teams of scientists come to us with a new idea or a new sensor they would like to put in space. My team and I look at these suggestions, work out what the best ideas are, and then design a satellite to carry that sensor. Since every sensor is different, so is every satellite! The best thing about this kind of work is that I get to learn about all the different parts of a satellite and how they work together, rather than being an expert on just one part.

Also, we do some smaller projects which aren’t connected to any particular satellite, but are more general ideas for the future – for example, we are looking to find way to make sure that things that fall out of the sky have basically zero chance of hitting anyone or anything!

The work I do is very variable – each day is different. The only constant is the time of lunch with my friends here!

There’s a lot of reading! These satellites we design are too complicated for any one person to do themselves so many people need to exchange ideas and expertise. Further, because they are very expensive to build, we need to make sure we get it right all the way. There’s basically no chance to repair something if it breaks, so we spend a lot of time checking each others’ work.

But it is not only reading – it it were, nothing would ever be built! I design things, dream up better ways to make the designs work and test the designs that others make.

Most of my day is spent at my computer in an office. Other engineers work in labs, doing more hands-on things, but my work now is all done with software tools. Some of these you’ll know – like Excel (yes, even we use this for really complicated stuff!) – but other programs we have are so complicated and specific that maybe only 10 people in the world know how to use it..!

Here’s my office and my computer where I work all day. Believe it or not, but this is the most paper-free office I know of – it seems spacecraft engineers really like printing things…

Really, I don’t care about winning the money or winning at all for that matter! My main motivation is to talk about what I do and hopefully explain a little about what it’s like in this field. I love talking about space stuff 🙂

If I did win, well, I guess I’d have to think of something real quick! Perhaps you have some good ideas for me?