Profile

I’m lucky enough to work as an electronics design engineer for STFC RAL Space in Oxfordshire, where we have built over 200 scientific instruments that are either whizzing around in orbit above our heads or looking out into Space from Earth.

Who knew that kind of work really happens right here in the UK?

During my eight years at RAL Space I have worked on several cameras which look at our Sun in wavelengths far beyond those that the eye can see, and are behind most of the beautiful close-up images of solar storms that we see in the media today.

 

Solar prominences captured by the Solar Dynamics Observatory camera electronics, built here in the UK
 

My most recent project was to design, build, test and support operations of the electronics for two high-definition Earth Observation cameras which are now mounted outside the International Space Station, and will be sharing Tim’s view of our planet while he is aboard.

 

Our High Resolution Camera in the clean rooms at RAL
 

Our High Resolution Camera mounted aboard the International Space Station
 

London as viewed by our High Resolution Camera (and soon…our very own astronaut Tim Peake).
The Earth looks very fragile from up here.
Spot the London Eye!

One of the great things about working on a Space project is that you get to see it through from start to finish. One day I may be talking to scientists at NASA to find out what they requirements are for their mission, on another I may be seeing my work on top of a rocket ready for launch, or watching it being installed on a Spacewalk!

 

Watching the launch of two years’ hard graft on a giant firework. Can you imagine how that feels?
 

In between, I spend my time working on a broad range of tasks either at my desk (designing and analysing electronic systems or writing documents) in the clean rooms (building, testing and qualifying my work for the harsh environments of Space), or working with the customer (wherever they may be)!

One thing is for sure…no two days are the same!

You’d be surprised how little £500 buys on a Space project, but for school engagement projects it would be great!

At RAL Space, we run a variety of activities for schools ranging from building spaghetti and marshmallow rockets (which we then test to see if they’ll survive launch) to project managing the build of an infra-red satellite to map the extremes of the known universe. We also like launching rockets, and would love to send a smartphone on one of these (or possibly on a weather balloon) with a range of sensors, cameras, GPS, accelerometers etc. But we could really do with some help, which is where you guys come in!