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Come on, that link is from 11 years ago. It says only 8% end up with jobs 10 years later in their field of study. There is no evidence presented as to the actua

by mym1990 3y ago

Come on, that link is from 11 years ago. It says only 8% end up with jobs 10 years later in their field of study. There is no evidence presented as to the actual causation. This is a particularly funny quote given the times we live in now: “A third is that there are not a lot of exciting new aerospace or defense initiatives that spur the imagination of young engineers like there once were.”

giantg2 3y ago
How is that funny? Compared to previous times it seems there aren't that many groundbreaking programs, from what we can see. Most of aviation innovation is suppressed by market demands - we want tried and true, low-risk designs. This is in stark contrast to the 50s-80s. Space is a fairly small market, but has some stuff going on. Nothing on the scale of the space race era. Even in the 90s they were talking about how space launches would become so routine. Then, if you launched a mission it was likely 70% new tech, procedures, or experiments. Now all the missions build off of previous ones. Hey, look a new space telescope! Been there, done that, barely makes the news. Defense is a wildcard since the interesting stuff is classified. There are some interesting problems in the DARPA competitions. Not a lot of freedom in those jobs - lots of politics usually.
- mym1990 3y ago
  Seriously? I'm going to guess that it's highly unlikely that you have worked on the Hubble(or the Webb), so for you to say 'been there, done that' just show how de-sensitized you are to actual achievements. Space race budgets were only really significantly elevated from 62-69, and fell off pretty precipitously after that, so to attribute all of that spending to 3 decades is wrong as well. Aviation innovation is not suppressed by market demands, it is because the private market can now participate that innovation is happening again. But you don't seem to get that aviation and rocket innovation is indeed rocket science, and 'low risk designs' aren't just established over night.
  - giantg2 3y ago
    "so for you to say 'been there, done that' just show how de-sensitized you are to actual achievements." No shit, that's the entire point - society doesn't care anymore because it isn't shiny. Take a survey on the street of space telescopes and most won't even be aware of the Jame Webb. "so to attribute all of that spending to 3 decades is wrong as well." Much of those subsequent decades built off of the information and ideas generated in that time period. They still had regular manned missions and large innovations like the space shuttle. No more manned launches from NASA. No more prestige. "But you don't seem to get that aviation and rocket innovation is indeed rocket science, " I do get that. Now please go compare the rate of innovation and newly adopted designs today versus decades ago. Today it's all about tweaking some existing model for slightly more efficiency and running computer models.

giantg2 3y ago

How is that funny? Compared to previous times it seems there aren't that many groundbreaking programs, from what we can see. Most of aviation innovation is suppressed by market demands - we want tried and true, low-risk designs. This is in stark contrast to the 50s-80s. Space is a fairly small market, but has some stuff going on. Nothing on the scale of the space race era. Even in the 90s they were talking about how space launches would become so routine. Then, if you launched a mission it was likely 70% new tech, procedures, or experiments. Now all the missions build off of previous ones. Hey, look a new space telescope! Been there, done that, barely makes the news. Defense is a wildcard since the interesting stuff is classified. There are some interesting problems in the DARPA competitions. Not a lot of freedom in those jobs - lots of politics usually.

mym1990 3y ago
Seriously? I'm going to guess that it's highly unlikely that you have worked on the Hubble(or the Webb), so for you to say 'been there, done that' just show how de-sensitized you are to actual achievements. Space race budgets were only really significantly elevated from 62-69, and fell off pretty precipitously after that, so to attribute all of that spending to 3 decades is wrong as well. Aviation innovation is not suppressed by market demands, it is because the private market can now participate that innovation is happening again. But you don't seem to get that aviation and rocket innovation is indeed rocket science, and 'low risk designs' aren't just established over night.
- giantg2 3y ago
  "so for you to say 'been there, done that' just show how de-sensitized you are to actual achievements." No shit, that's the entire point - society doesn't care anymore because it isn't shiny. Take a survey on the street of space telescopes and most won't even be aware of the Jame Webb. "so to attribute all of that spending to 3 decades is wrong as well." Much of those subsequent decades built off of the information and ideas generated in that time period. They still had regular manned missions and large innovations like the space shuttle. No more manned launches from NASA. No more prestige. "But you don't seem to get that aviation and rocket innovation is indeed rocket science, " I do get that. Now please go compare the rate of innovation and newly adopted designs today versus decades ago. Today it's all about tweaking some existing model for slightly more efficiency and running computer models.