For years, I had hoped that I could work on electronics for spacecraft, but strangely I had no clue what an engineer did, or that being an engineer was the path to making that happen. It was only when I started looking at courses available at university did I realise that Engineering at Cambridge was the perfect fit.
Working for NASA seemed like an impossibly distant dream, until I spent my third year on exchange at MIT, where even undergraduates can work on satellites and rockets as a normal part of their education. It was then that I decided that being a NASA engineer was the path I wanted to pursue.
Dobbs has worked in Florida before, both as a quarterback with the Jaguars and as an aerospace engineer with NASA in two separate offseasons. These are the paths Dobbs, 27, has followed since he first took up quarterbacking at age 6 and first visited NASA with his family at age 7 while en route to a vacation at Universal Studios.
It would definitely give you a competitive edge, but plenty of students get onto aerospace engineering courses with Bs or Cs if their other grades are good. The important bit is that you have a maths qualification, as this will give you the grounding you need to build upon.
The engineering industry a multi-billion pound global career market that offers job satisfaction, job security, and great potential salaries. With projects spanning countries and continents, aerospace engineers have the opportunity to travel the world and work on exciting new technologies and programmes, many of which are designed to make the world a better place. Germany, China, India, and the USA are famed for their engineering talents, and many graduates will go on to gain experience and jobs in these fast-growing markets.
"Rocket scientist" is an informal term that can be used to describe various scientists and engineers that work in the aerospace product and parts manufacturing industry. While the average rocket scientist salary depends upon the specific job title, scientists and engineers in the aerospace industry typically earn higher levels of income than their peers in other industries. Read on to learn about earnings for the different types of rocket scientist jobs.
Aerospace engineers are probably the workers most frequently referred to as "rocket scientists." While other engineers working in the aerospace industry focus on particular aspects and components of aerospace products, aerospace engineers produce the overall designs.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that as of 2019, aerospace engineers in all industries earned an average of nearly $119,220 per year. The average rocket engineer salary in aerospace was $118,260 per year.
Industrial engineers reported some of the lowest salaries of all engineers working in aerospace manufacturing, at about $102,350 per year. Mechanical engineers in the aerospace industry averaged $104,160 per year, civil engineers averaged about $115,000 per year, and materials engineers averaged about $115,810 per year. Electrical engineers in the industry reported average yearly compensation of about $115,910, while electronics engineers averaged $121,360 per year.
Computer scientists design complex computer systems that run rockets, spaceships and other aerospace products, and are among the highest-paid of all aerospace workers. The BLS reports that computer programmers working in the aerospace industry earned an average of $101,410 per year. Software and web developers averaged $124,320, and computer hardware engineers averaged $126,720 per year.
As a youngster, Urzay excelled in physics, chemistry and mathematics, and earned an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from a public university near his home. Wanting to spread his academic wings, he applied to the University of California San Diego as a graduate research assistant in the aerospace engineering Ph.D. program and was accepted.
The student quickly adapted to his adopted home and thrived in his new academic and research environment. In the U.S., he learned first-hand from world-renowned experts on high-speed combustion and aerodynamics, including Stanford professor Parviz Moin, a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and UCSD professor Forman Williams, a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and former pupil of Air Force Research and Development Command founder Theodore von Karman. Yet, he still longed for civil service and still harbored a fascination with the high-tech U.S. Air and Space Forces. Renowned Rocket Engineer Becomes New Reserve Officer One of the nation's top rocket engineers, 2nd Lt. Javier Urzay is an expert on high-speed, chemically reacting, multi-phase flow physics and their engineering applications to aeronatics and astronautics. In addition to his primary Reserve job, he supports the Air Force Reserve Hypersonics Team by providing expert input in projects related to hypersonic propulsion. (Courtesy photo)
The United States eventually planted a flag on the lunar surface, though without the help of any orbital reactors. And all through the Space Race, von Braun, a German scientist scooped up by the U.S. in the waning days of World War II, was the public face of the American space program, as well as one of its chief architects. But much of the Cold War-era coverage of von Braun downplayed the darker details of his past: before he was building rockets for America, he was building them for Hitler. Germany launched more than 3,000 missiles of his design against Britain and other countries, indiscriminately killing approximately 5,000 people, while as many as 20,000 concentration camp prisoners died assembling the weapons.
Just who are the greatest aerospace engineers of all time? The ability to fly has long been an ambitious quest for mankind. Many centuries have been spent trying to master the art, as such there have been many aerospace engineers with a profound and lasting impact. Here at MNB Precision we have compiled a list of both the greatest engineers and the greatest aerospace engineers. Ranging from the most famous and prominent to some lesser known yet still crucial figures, these are some of the best professionals in the field. Read on to find out more.
Elon Musk is an entrepreneur, investor and engineer. He founded SpaceX, an aerospace manufacturer and space transport company of which he is CEO and lead designer. He is also the co-founder and CEO of Tesla, Inc, co-founder of PayPal and co-founder and CEO of Neuralink. Clearly a successful engineer and entrepreneur! He has also stated his commitment to reducing global warming through sustainable energy and reducing the risk of human extinction by establishing a human colony on mars. In our opinion a huge figure in the world of aerospace engineering.
Von Braun was a German-American aerospace engineer and space architect. He is widely thought of as the father of rocket technology and space science through the United States. He was also the leading figure in the development of rocket technology in Germany. As the chief architect and director of the Marshall Space Flight Centre he was crucial in the development of the launch vehicle that would later propel the Apollo spacecraft to the moon. His impact upon aerospace engineering cannot be underestimated.
Sergei Korolev was the lead Soviet rocket engineer for the Soviet Union in the 1950s and 1960s. Regarded as the father of practical astronautics by many, he played a key role in the Space Race between the United States and Soviet Union as the lead rocket engineer and spacecraft designer. He also played a crucial role in launching the first human being into space.
J. Mitchell was an English aeronautical engineer. During his engineering days he worked for Supermarine Aviation and between 1920 and 1936 designed many aircraft. His most famous aircraft design was that of the iconic Supermarine Spitfire, the Second World War fighter. We had to include him on our list of great engineers for that reason alone.
There have been many pioneers of engineering throughout mankind. As such, to form a definitive list of the greatest aerospace engineers of all time is no easy task. We have formed a list of some of the most crucial in our opinion but perhaps your choices would be different. MNB Precision provide precision machining and CNC machining for the Aerospace Industry. Contact us today for all your Aerospace Engineering needs.
There are several paths you can take to a career in aerospace engineering. Most aerospace engineering positions require at least a bachelor's degree in engineering or a related field.
(Photo: Michigan Tech's student-built Oculus-ASR nanosatellite rode the SpaceX Falcon Heavy from Cape Canaveral Pad 39A into orbit. Credit: Jason Makela)
Humans have been looking to the skies for hundreds of thousands of years. Now, we can actually reach them. From first flights, to Mars missions, to bringing light to the dark side of the moon, there's no end in sight for opportunities in aerospace engineering.
 38c6e68cf9