Aerospace is a leading engineering resource in the nation for launch vehicles and the most complex communications, weather, navigation, and reconnaissance space systems, providing comprehensive support from conceptual design through orbital operations. The corporation's work spans all facets of space systems, including systems engineering, testing, analysis, and development; acquisition support; launch readiness and certification; anomaly resolution; and the application of new technologies for existing and next-generation space systems.
What sort of people are needed to perform these important tasks? For starters, complex projects require broad systems thinking and analysis, and Aerospace has a growing need for system architects and engineers to develop and document enterprise and system-of-systems architectures and engineering solutions.
Aerospace engineers and scientists require a breadth of technical skills. Developing sensors that fly on national security payloads requires expertise in space physics and phenomenology, including spectral analysis, optics, atmospheric sciences, radar signal processing, and radiation effects. The data from these sensors must be accurately transmitted and processed, and Aerospace needs engineers to model RF and laser communications systems. Much of this information must be protected, so Aerospace also needs information assurance and security specialists to identify and resolve security issues associated with computer hardware and software, network standards, and system interfaces. To accommodate growing data loads, Aerospace is expanding its efforts in high-performance networking, distributed operations, and grid computing.
Launching a spacecraft entails a significant amount of number crunching for loads analysis and performance metrics, and Aerospace needs numerical analysts who can assist with algorithmic and software development related to mission performance, orbital mechanics, trajectory estimation, and optimization studies. Telemetry is a critical function for any space mission, and Aerospace needs engineers who can design, implement, and test advanced real-time telemetry processing systems. Developing, operating, and maintaining large fleets of satellites requires specialized skills in constellation management and orbit analysis. As the steward for national security space, Aerospace must also assess the military utility of proposed space systems and gauge the performance of surveillance and tracking systems.
Aerospace doesn't actually build military space systems, but nonetheless needs manufacturing and processing engineers to evaluate industry's design, integration, and test programs. To ensure that government programs are executed successfully, Aerospace also needs experienced personnel for requirements analysis, quality assurance, reliability modeling, and cost analysis.
And of course, Aerospace needs rocket scientists in the traditional sense—engineers who can evaluate propulsion systems, analyze spacecraft control and electromechanical systems, monitor vibroacoustic and shock tests, review guidance and control algorithms for launch vehicles, plan and oversee mode survey tests, and conduct transient loads analyses.
Further details about staffing needs and opportunities can be found at http://www.aero.org/careers/jobs/.