MadSci Network: Other |
You will be happy to know that the answer is yes. In fact, I was on the same team as one of your countrymen in the Goddard soccer (football) league. We jokingly refer to it as the NASA international semi-pro league. I quit after one season as I had no prayer of competing at that level. (Though I did score one goal.) So, what's the catch? There are a few restrictions for certain types of data from certain satellites, but that rarely comes into play on most projects. There are plenty of things to work on, trust me. Oh, and the probability that you will work for a NASA contractor is almost one. As far as I know, one must be a US citizen to be a civil servant. I'm a contractor and it's cool. (For one thing, the pay is better.) Now for your next question, (I'm not psychic, just experienced): HOW do I get to work at NASA? Grades, school and brains. Keep your grades up across the board, but you will need to concentrate in math and science. I strongly urge you to take as much math as you can in school now before you get to college. Calculus or at the very least, pre-calc is a must. Take as many science courses as you can as well. Chemistry and physics should be primary goals. I took 7 math classes in 4 years of high school and did biology, chem and physics in honors classes. This will pay off for you in college as you won't be seeing the material for the first time, and keeping your grades up in college is also a must. Extra-curricular activities/hobbies are a big help in getting into a good university, no joke. This may sound like flag waving, but I would also recommend going to a college in the USA. Look up the US News and World Report college ranking issue on the web, look at the top 25-35 schools in engineering/physics. That's where you'd want to apply. I went to the University of Maryland, College Park for example. We have huge engineering and physics departments there. What to study in college: engineering, math, physics/astronomy, and computer science are the four primary fields of people here at Goddard Space Flight Center. In engineering DO NOT go into aerospace engineering, there are no jobs in spacecraft design. Electrical, mechanical, materials and chemical engineering are in demand in just about that order. Mathemeticians are an interesting group here and tend to be VERY specialized. Comp-Sci people are often programmers that work on code for ground simulations, sattelite instructions programming, or satellite data management. Learn lots of programming languages, even older ones, if that's your interest. Physicists are about as abundant as engineers as well, and like engineers, work on just about anything. I am a true oddity here at NASA, as I am a nuclear engineer. From what I've been able to gather, there is one other in all of NASA. So my path would not be an excellent example of how to get here, I'm just strange. You are at an excellent age to start deciding where you want to concentrate and focus your efforts. Do you want to work with small satellites, data analysis, safety, mission assurance, astronomy, stellar physics experiments, human space flight, planetary exploration, or something else? Look at all of the NASA centers' web pages (Goddard, Ames, Houston, JPL, Johnson, Glenn, Kennedy, Dryden, Marshall, Stennis, Langly, Wallops and Headquarters) and look at all the projects that are ongoing at each facility. Start at www.nasa.gov and go crazy. Think about what you want to do and where best fits your goals. You may want/need to pursue an advanced degree as well, depending on what you want to do. (I have a MS.) I'll tell you one last secret. What you study in college only very rarely equates to what you do at your job. In college, I learned how to operate particle accelerators, radioactive sources and a nuclear reactor. Now I use those things, run by someone else, to test parts for space flight and decide if they are good enough to use. I still use radiation, just nothing like what I learned in the classroom. I'm now more like an electrical engineer with an overdeveloped sense of radiation effects on electronics and materials knowledge. Ok, I've shocked you enough for one day. Just remember that science, unlike most other jobs, doesn't suck; it's worth the effort. Good luck and good thinking in whatever you choose do. Scott Kniffin Senior Engineer and Principal Investigator Code 561.4 Radiation Effects and Analysis Group Flight Electronics Branch NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Try the links in the MadSci Library for more information on Other.