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Thanks for this post, very interesting. Personally, I badly want to get out of the software / "tech" industry, and get into the space industry some how. I hav

Thanks for this post, very interesting. Personally, I badly want to get out of the software / "tech" industry, and get into the space industry some how. I have no idea what I'll do, how I'll do this, or what I can offer. Only time will tell.

ChuckMcM 13y ago
There are a lot of similarities though, rocket ships run on software. That said, there are huge challenges in robot manipulators, signals management (space is noisy) and vacuum operations. One of the things I've been noodling on is a self contained mineral extraction pipeline. You know you suck in raw material on one side and pull out some useful mineral or minerals out of the other. There are several challenges here, one being that many existing extraction processes rely on either an abundance of water or power or both, and often were designed assuming gravity worked :-). So for grins and giggles I've been noodling on "The Mosquito" which is a cross between a well auger and a science payload. It combines three things I find fascinating, robotics, space, and systems design so it is a lot of fun.
- kilroy123 13y ago
  Interesting. Do you have a blog or website showing off what you have so far? I'd love to learn more. I think 2 main things will drive space "exploration": - mining resources from astroids - solar arrays for more efficient power generation
  - ChuckMcM 13y ago
    Actually its just notes in my notebook and stuff clipped into an Evernote notebook but it I'll see about putting something up on my robotics page.
nether 13y ago
A software job in aerospace (avionics or analysis) can be worse than a pure software position, because your managers understand your work even less. Also, there are huge gulfs between reading about X, studying X at the university level, and working in X industry. I see a lot of people entering aerospace programs with dreamy ambitions from Reddit, Neil Degrasse Tyson, SpaceX articles. Then they can't hack the physics and math and 200 page design reports. It's a bit like kids going into CS because they like playing video games. Most aerospace jobs are pretty Dilbert/Office Space. At the megahuge defense contractor where I used to work, we had Office Space characterizations for many of our managers/coworkers. If you ever want your space dreams dashed, read Glassdoor reviews. We just hired an ex-SpaceXer who loved the mission but hated sacrificing his life as a 20-something to working 70-hour weeks.
- kilroy123 13y ago
  That's exactly what I imagined. Especially since the entire industry basically works with the government. I was thinking of working for or at one of space startups: SpaceX, Blue Origin, Planetary Resources, Virgin Galactic, and the mars one foundation. The truth is, my goal is to eventually start my own company.
  - lifeisstillgood 13y ago
    Can I suggest to just start - there are going to be a gazillion suppliers to SpaceX etc - if you want to be in the industry, you can be in. If you want to put your stuff in space or even orbit, may I suggest looking at micro satellites - there is going to be a vast number of things people will want doing that are going to be within the capability of a large lump of silicon. And the big boys will happily take a dozen iphone equivalents and put them in LEO in passing. That to me is the growth area Edit: sorry seemed a bit off dumped the hobbyist reference - just thinking of the issues of orbital speed - until / if orbital speed is achievable for an cluster of iPhones dangling from a weather ballon, then everything depends on huge great rockets. And SpaceX and it's ilk, for all the impact, is only expecting to see a halving of launch costs. It is going to remain a big government big industry game for a very very long time.
    - kilroy123 13y ago
      Agreed, I should just start. Next year, I'm going to attend a few conferences, just to learn more about the industry, chat with people etc. The cost do need to dramatically drop, for say, large scale mining operations to happen. I think we'll ultimately need a space elevator or something extreme. Maybe that's possible with LOTS of advances in carbon nanotube tech... If so, I think several governments could be persuaded to put up funding in the future. Just like we did with the International Space Station.
    - elements 13y ago
      I like this advice. I worked with someone who built an aerospace company around an ultra-reliable actuator design he developed with a friend. They had put hardware on dozens of missions, including some inter-planetary missions, before they were acquired a few years later. A lot of the advice he gave me centered around understanding how supplier contracts are granted / won, and the importance of building relationships and a reputation in the industry. The biggest thing that stuck with me, though, was that it was even possible for a startup company to put hardware in space, let alone mission-critical stuff. So, I second the "just start" suggestion. Maybe I'll take the same advice myself some day.

ChuckMcM 13y ago

There are a lot of similarities though, rocket ships run on software. That said, there are huge challenges in robot manipulators, signals management (space is noisy) and vacuum operations. One of the things I've been noodling on is a self contained mineral extraction pipeline. You know you suck in raw material on one side and pull out some useful mineral or minerals out of the other. There are several challenges here, one being that many existing extraction processes rely on either an abundance of water or power or both, and often were designed assuming gravity worked :-). So for grins and giggles I've been noodling on "The Mosquito" which is a cross between a well auger and a science payload. It combines three things I find fascinating, robotics, space, and systems design so it is a lot of fun.

kilroy123 13y ago
Interesting. Do you have a blog or website showing off what you have so far? I'd love to learn more. I think 2 main things will drive space "exploration": - mining resources from astroids - solar arrays for more efficient power generation
- ChuckMcM 13y ago
  Actually its just notes in my notebook and stuff clipped into an Evernote notebook but it I'll see about putting something up on my robotics page.

nether 13y ago

A software job in aerospace (avionics or analysis) can be worse than a pure software position, because your managers understand your work even less. Also, there are huge gulfs between reading about X, studying X at the university level, and working in X industry. I see a lot of people entering aerospace programs with dreamy ambitions from Reddit, Neil Degrasse Tyson, SpaceX articles. Then they can't hack the physics and math and 200 page design reports. It's a bit like kids going into CS because they like playing video games. Most aerospace jobs are pretty Dilbert/Office Space. At the megahuge defense contractor where I used to work, we had Office Space characterizations for many of our managers/coworkers. If you ever want your space dreams dashed, read Glassdoor reviews. We just hired an ex-SpaceXer who loved the mission but hated sacrificing his life as a 20-something to working 70-hour weeks.

kilroy123 13y ago
That's exactly what I imagined. Especially since the entire industry basically works with the government. I was thinking of working for or at one of space startups: SpaceX, Blue Origin, Planetary Resources, Virgin Galactic, and the mars one foundation. The truth is, my goal is to eventually start my own company.
- lifeisstillgood 13y ago
  Can I suggest to just start - there are going to be a gazillion suppliers to SpaceX etc - if you want to be in the industry, you can be in. If you want to put your stuff in space or even orbit, may I suggest looking at micro satellites - there is going to be a vast number of things people will want doing that are going to be within the capability of a large lump of silicon. And the big boys will happily take a dozen iphone equivalents and put them in LEO in passing. That to me is the growth area Edit: sorry seemed a bit off dumped the hobbyist reference - just thinking of the issues of orbital speed - until / if orbital speed is achievable for an cluster of iPhones dangling from a weather ballon, then everything depends on huge great rockets. And SpaceX and it's ilk, for all the impact, is only expecting to see a halving of launch costs. It is going to remain a big government big industry game for a very very long time.
  - kilroy123 13y ago
    Agreed, I should just start. Next year, I'm going to attend a few conferences, just to learn more about the industry, chat with people etc. The cost do need to dramatically drop, for say, large scale mining operations to happen. I think we'll ultimately need a space elevator or something extreme. Maybe that's possible with LOTS of advances in carbon nanotube tech... If so, I think several governments could be persuaded to put up funding in the future. Just like we did with the International Space Station.
  - elements 13y ago
    I like this advice. I worked with someone who built an aerospace company around an ultra-reliable actuator design he developed with a friend. They had put hardware on dozens of missions, including some inter-planetary missions, before they were acquired a few years later. A lot of the advice he gave me centered around understanding how supplier contracts are granted / won, and the importance of building relationships and a reputation in the industry. The biggest thing that stuck with me, though, was that it was even possible for a startup company to put hardware in space, let alone mission-critical stuff. So, I second the "just start" suggestion. Maybe I'll take the same advice myself some day.