Why my daughter can look forward to a career in the space industry

My young daughter has a Newtonian telescope. We bought it for her since she is fascinated by the lights in the night sky. For nearly all of human history staring upwards would have been about as much as she could have hoped for. Making a career in the space industry felt as distant as some of the stars. However, this is changing.

Humans are comfortable with the idea of mastering under water, on water, on land and in the air. However, Space is seen as a far more remote and unfamiliar place. One that we are yet to master. We need to change this mindset as we are now living in the space century. 

Whilst humans started exploring Space in the 1950s, the amount of activity in the last twenty years has grown exponentially. What has driven this? Some boost has come from more governments getting in on the act, not just Russia and the US. However, the transformation unfolding is also driven by the move of the private sector interest in Space.

How many satellites are in Space today? Seems to be well over four thousand, of which close to two thousand are still operational. These are used for all manner of purposes, be that defence, navigation, communications, monitoring Earth, investigating the cosmos etc. This number is added to every year with a couple hundred more. Maybe even this number will increase year on year with the interest in smaller satellites, many of which can be launched on the top of a single reusable rocket.

However, Space is not just about satellites. Plans to create bases on the Moon and Mars are advancing. Mining asteroids is moving from science fiction towards believability. The promise of tourism gets tantalizingly close. On Earth, we see continued investment in every larger optical and radio-based telescopes. There is a red Tesla sports car looping around our planet, you can have your ashes fired into Space, you can follow Space weather reports online and there is talk of exploring art in Space. These are just some examples of the extraordinary activity that is underway.

Think about the supply chains that surround this Space activity, for example:

• Designing, building, launching, maintaining and recovering satellites and rockets
• Designing, building and maintaining Earth based telescopes
• Creation of new building materials
• Hiring and training the necessary workforces
• Financing and insuring these large capital investments
• Collecting, securing and processing the data that flows from them
• Using the data for a wide variety of activities back down on Earth
• Media interest, TV shows, web programmes 
• Creating new laws and regulations that try to control what, we humans, do in Space

These supply chains offer high value jobs, help to push the boundaries of science and society and make life more interesting. One day it might even be the way to save humanity if we keep abusing the planet we are on. 

It is clear that how we define the space industry will need to re-thought. Also, the number of jobs in the industry are going to grow.

So where do women fit into this picture? To secure many of these jobs, training in STEM subjects – Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths – will grow in importance. There are more opportunities than ever for women to have equal access to these courses and diversity continues to grow in acceptance. However, the data suggests that the number of women in technology and space orientated careers continues to be limited:

• Only 11% of people who have been to Space have been women
• The percentage of women taking STEM topics at school and university remain a significant minority
• The percentage of women in the aerospace and defense sector is low

It is certain that the space century is upon us and will exponentially grow providing significant opportunities. This is transformational. What is not so certain is how much of a role women will play. Encouragingly many societies recognise that we have an issue with the number of women pursuing STEM based careers. Step by step hopefully we will see progress. It would be wonderful to see women and wider society taking full advantage of these undoubted opportunities. I will certainly be encouraging my daughter to believe that if she wants, she can make Space her purpose in life.