5 ms·

Multiple friends who moved to the USA for their higher education (MS/PhD) in fields such as Aerospace Engg complain about the very tight regulations in the fiel

Multiple friends who moved to the USA for their higher education (MS/PhD) in fields such as Aerospace Engg complain about the very tight regulations in the field. For many people, even being top of the class means coming back home, because companies like Boeing/ SpaceX etc have very tight US citizens only rules imposed on them. This is almost completely opposite to the Comp Sci. graduates who assimilate almost immediately into the workforce. In a way, this has helped India develop it's own space program because many graduates from top universities do come back home and join ISRO (albeit I'm sure many others don't for various reasons). Why is there so much country-based regulation in these fields? Is it because the traditional patriotism associated with the field (US vs Russia in the 60's was legendary)? or is it simply resistance to change?

seren 10y ago
A rocket is an intercontinental ballistic missile with a different flight plan. So every nuclear power want to stay ahead in the game.
- exDM69 10y ago
  I think the US is just adding a self-imposed constraint that hinders their own progress. Other nations have built ICBMs and have space launch capabilities too. The US is not significanltly "ahead in the game" and their development is slowed down by hiring US citizens only in the aerospace industry. Not all rockets are practical as ICBMs. ICBMs tend to use storable (hypergolic) propellants so they can be maintained and ready to launch at short interval. Many space launch vehicles, such as those built by SpaceX, use cryogenic propellants and need to go through a time consuming (and dangerous!) propellant loading before they can be launched. (note: the Indian and the Chinese space programs use primarily solid fuel and hypergolic propellants) I'm sure SpaceX, ULA and others would be happy to recruit non-US citizens if the regulations didn't disallow it.
  - greglindahl 10y ago
    Are there any remaining ICBMs that use liquid propellants? Liquid-fueled ICBMs vulnerable to a first strike, not to mention all those messy accidents with hypergolic fuels. Also, China's new Long March 5/6/7 rocket series reduces Chinese use of hypergolic fuels to a minimum. All 3 have now launched at least once.
- mturmon 10y ago
  Yes. The more specific regulation is ITAR -- https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Traffic_in_Arms_Regulations https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Traffic_in_Arm...
walshemj 10y ago
Because a lot of those companies are involved in defence and national security (List X in uk terms) its probably impossible for non citizens to achieve the required security clearances. Not so long ago in the UK you had to have both sets of grandparents as citizens to Join the civil service.
user5994461 10y ago
You'll note that countries in Europe also require to be an European citizen for this line of work.
- exDM69 10y ago
  As far as I know, for jobs in the ESA, you must be a citizen of an ESA member nation (not the same as EU). I'm not sure if there are similar restrictions to the US that apply to working aerospace industry jobs (say Airbus).
  - user5994461 10y ago
    > I'm not sure if there are similar restrictions to the US that apply to working aerospace industry jobs (say Airbus). There are. Hence my initial message ^^
    - exDM69 10y ago
      What's the limitation? Do you need to be French in order to work for Airbus aerospace? Or a EU citizen? Or a citizen from a list of approved countries?
Florin_Andrei 10y ago
> Why is there so much country-based regulation in these fields? Because same rocket technology could be used to either put a robot on the Moon, or a nuke in someone's backyard on another continent.

seren 10y ago

A rocket is an intercontinental ballistic missile with a different flight plan. So every nuclear power want to stay ahead in the game.

exDM69 10y ago
I think the US is just adding a self-imposed constraint that hinders their own progress. Other nations have built ICBMs and have space launch capabilities too. The US is not significanltly "ahead in the game" and their development is slowed down by hiring US citizens only in the aerospace industry. Not all rockets are practical as ICBMs. ICBMs tend to use storable (hypergolic) propellants so they can be maintained and ready to launch at short interval. Many space launch vehicles, such as those built by SpaceX, use cryogenic propellants and need to go through a time consuming (and dangerous!) propellant loading before they can be launched. (note: the Indian and the Chinese space programs use primarily solid fuel and hypergolic propellants) I'm sure SpaceX, ULA and others would be happy to recruit non-US citizens if the regulations didn't disallow it.
- greglindahl 10y ago
  Are there any remaining ICBMs that use liquid propellants? Liquid-fueled ICBMs vulnerable to a first strike, not to mention all those messy accidents with hypergolic fuels. Also, China's new Long March 5/6/7 rocket series reduces Chinese use of hypergolic fuels to a minimum. All 3 have now launched at least once.
mturmon 10y ago
Yes. The more specific regulation is ITAR -- https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Traffic_in_Arms_Regulations https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Traffic_in_Arm...

walshemj 10y ago

Because a lot of those companies are involved in defence and national security (List X in uk terms) its probably impossible for non citizens to achieve the required security clearances. Not so long ago in the UK you had to have both sets of grandparents as citizens to Join the civil service.

user5994461 10y ago

You'll note that countries in Europe also require to be an European citizen for this line of work.

exDM69 10y ago
As far as I know, for jobs in the ESA, you must be a citizen of an ESA member nation (not the same as EU). I'm not sure if there are similar restrictions to the US that apply to working aerospace industry jobs (say Airbus).
- user5994461 10y ago
  > I'm not sure if there are similar restrictions to the US that apply to working aerospace industry jobs (say Airbus). There are. Hence my initial message ^^
  - exDM69 10y ago
    What's the limitation? Do you need to be French in order to work for Airbus aerospace? Or a EU citizen? Or a citizen from a list of approved countries?

Florin_Andrei 10y ago

> Why is there so much country-based regulation in these fields? Because same rocket technology could be used to either put a robot on the Moon, or a nuke in someone's backyard on another continent.