Profile

My role is working on a satellite programme called EarthCARE, which is a spacecraft in the Earth Observation domain looking at Cloud and Aerosol Profiles. This programme is a cooperation programme with the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA). My role, as a Structural Engineer, is to ensure that the design and build of each element of the spacecraft is strong enough to survive the launch and will perform its’ function for the duration of the spacecraft mission.

I spend most of my days in front  of the computer or on the phone. The industrial team is spread all across Europe – and beyond, so we can not sit face to face all the time to discuss issues. We use teleconferencing and webex to discuss problems to solve, report progress or plan the next steps. The way that we keep up to speed with everything that is going on, is through documentation. So I spend a lot of time reading reports. Depending on the stage of the project, I am either looking at design, analysis, progress or test reports. At the start of the programme, we defined specifications to ensure that Industry design and build what we want. Quite often we get requests to deviate from the specification, so each of those have to be assessed to check if it is possible. If not, then we work together to find a solution that Industry can manage and we are satisfied that it will be sufficient to perform the necessary function.