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4 Reasons to Work in the Space Industry

Mining metals from asteroids. Buying a ticket into suborbital space. Starting your own space exploration company. It’s not the stuff of science fiction anymore. It’s happening—it’s exciting and we think you should be a part of it. Why? Read on to find out.

Apr 25, 2017
  • Student Tips
4 Reasons to Work in the Space Industry

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away… No. Right here. Right now.

With astronauts tweeting from Space, news about SpaceX, and other companies in the commercial space race, it shouldn’t be too far out there in the realm of your possibility that you can work in the space industry. Better yet—why not work in space?

Space has become part of the global—and intergalactic—business world. With the business of space come the variety of jobs associated with it.

Journey with us as we explore the importance of space careers—the next frontier where science and business collide.

A young happy businessman in elegant suit drawing helmet, satellite and rocket in empty space with a chalk illustration concept

1. Business

Space is big business. Love science? Love business? Think about getting that MBA and merging the two. Consider Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Blue Origin, the company he co-founded to initiate commercial space travel. Blue Origin will help sell rocket engines, services, and seats on flights that are literally out of this world. What does it take to make Blue Origin and other companies like it to work? Besides engineering, it takes business brawn.

MBA programs, like the ones at Harvard, MIT, Darden, Rotterdam, and Toulouse are catching on, too. To compete in the competitive, global business of space travel and exploration, the field needs experts. And not just in business. See #2.

Start up concept with businessman standing in front of rocket shaped gap in wall, revealing sunlit New York city view

2. Jobs

Working in the space industry offers a plethora of space jobs.

Don’t have a degree in engineering? Don’t worry. At SpaceX, you could get a job as a Visual Coordinator. What’s that? Someone who maintains the aesthetics of the SpaceX corporate headquarters. You could also work as a General Helper—and literally help out around the SpaceX campus. How about a Space Suit Designer? Apply those design skills to create a streamlined space suit for the … present. Because this is happening right now. Are you a writer? Awesome. Because the space industry needs people who can spin a yarn. Why? To educate. To market. To communicate. To explain the future of space to us. Me and you. Here in the present.

Have a STEM degree? Good. Because the space industry needs you, too. Physicists, mathematicians, engineers, neurobiologists, physicians, geodesists take note: the space industry needs you.

Satellite antenna dusk background

3. Quality of Life

Space exploration improves the quality of our lives. Ask an astronaut. Or, just look at your smartphone. Because your smartphone exists only because we have space technology.

It’s true. Phones, television, the internet, traffic reports, weather forecasts all come from satellites. And where does satellite technology come from? You got it. Space.

Satellites don’t exist solely for our personal conveniences or for taking pretty pictures of our planet, either. They help us make informed decisions about the state of the Earth. From understanding air pollution and the ozone layer, to plumbing the depths of the Earth’s oceans, to taking images of polar icecaps, satellite technology allows us to see our planet—and to make informed decisions about what we need to do to protect it.

Brave astronaut at the spacewalk on the mars. This image elements furnished by NASA.

4. Exciting Field

It’s more than exciting—the space industry is a game changer for the planet. Private companies are selling $250,000 tickets to suborbital space to anyone who can afford them. Billionaires are investing—and so are hackers. Remember: Steve Jobs started Apple Computer from his garage. The same is happening with the space industry. It’s not just the billionaires.

It’s not just trips into suborbital space either. There are trips planned to asteroids. Check out Planetary Resources, and bring your suborbital miner’s headlamp.

Other private companies are planning more lunar explorations.

NASA is planning a trip to Mars. Another planet. In our solar system.

If the capacity and ability to explore our planet and the space around it—including the moon, other planets, and asteroids—doesn’t excite you, we don’t know what will.

The space industry needs a variety of thinkers and doers from all academic backgrounds. What does it need most? Innovation. Passion. Commitment. The desire to do good.

Right here, right now, in our very own galaxy… you finish the story. You can do it.