gladiator1332 - 7/10/2007 1:26 PMThanks for the replies. I probably won't go the engineering route. I want more of an A&P Mechanic experience, but working on launch vehicles. I like troubleshooting problems and taking things apart. I'm the type of person who actually likes when something goes a bit screwy with my computer, as it gives me something to fix and troubleshoot.
Jim - 7/10/2007 6:42 PMThey are mostly union jobs
gladiator1332 - 7/10/2007 9:18 AMWhat kind of jobs are available that allow you to work on launch vehicles, and their systems? I know there are some guys on here involved with Delta and Atlas...what do you guys do? I'm just wondering what path I would have to take class-wise at college to land a job working on a spacecraft's systems and electronics, or a launch vehicle. Thanks
Jim - 7/10/2007 12:39 PM Quotegladiator1332 - 7/10/2007 1:26 PM Thanks for the replies. I probably won't go the engineering route. I want more of an A&P Mechanic experience, but working on launch vehicles. I like troubleshooting problems and taking things apart. I'm the type of person who actually likes when something goes a bit screwy with my computer, as it gives me something to fix and troubleshoot. Hate to burst your bubble, engineers do the troubleshooting, techs just turn wrenches
gladiator1332 - 7/10/2007 1:26 PM Thanks for the replies. I probably won't go the engineering route. I want more of an A&P Mechanic experience, but working on launch vehicles. I like troubleshooting problems and taking things apart. I'm the type of person who actually likes when something goes a bit screwy with my computer, as it gives me something to fix and troubleshoot.
Wait a doggone minnit! At least WE at Orbital have a more-or-less officially defined category of "supertechs" - individuals whose experience, educational background or simply raw abilities place them in that enviable grey area where they have the abilities of a tech (they won't let ME turn a wrench anymore, boo hoo...) but also the analytical and deductive skills of an engineer - boy, do they do troubleshooting!
That said, troubleshooting on live, space hardware (or ground support equipment that TOUCHES flight hardware) is done in a very "peculiar" way. There are certain principles that MUST be observed, such as "configuration control" - you must NOT "break the configuration" under which the anomaly happened (woe to you if you have to debug a broken configuration!...), you must write down all you troubleshooting steps before you perform them ("first, I'll attach a voltage probe at TP7, then I will set the scope to foo sensitivity, then...") under UNUSUAL circumstances you will then apply the procedure immediately, checking each step in your list as you perform it and writing down the measurements; but more often you will ask somebody with the appropriate knowledge of
to look over your written troubleshooting procedure to make shure you don't "fry" something in the process. In extreme cases you have to present it to a "panel" that usually includes the Program Manager of the Chief Engineer... that's when you are trying something close to the bare silicon (or the "bare metal" for structures)
It is exciting, head-spinning and sometimes scary stuff!!! If you set yourself to become a "supertech" you can plan you carrier accordingly. We do most of our rockets at Chandler, AZ and Vandenberg AFB, CA, but the Taurus II development is heavily based in Nothern Virginia (Dulles - that's where I work). Send me a PM is you want further info.
By the way, troubleshooting a satellite is every bit as exciting as troubleshooting a rocket, except your chances of success are higher (sometimes troubleshooting a rocket is more like pasting together the pieces of an airplane wreck...) We do all our satellites in Norther Virginia (largest satellite factory east of the Mississippi)
antonioe - 7/10/2007 11:13 PMWait a doggone minnit! At least WE at Orbital have a more-or-less officially defined category of "supertechs" - individuals whose experience, educational background or simply raw abilities place them in that enviable grey area where they have the abilities of a tech (they won't let ME turn a wrench anymore, boo hoo...) but also the analytical and deductive skills of an engineer - boy, do they do troubleshooting!
antonioe - 7/10/2007 9:13 PMQuoteJim - 7/10/2007 12:39 PM Hate to burst your bubble, engineers do the troubleshooting, techs just turn wrenchesWait a doggone minnit!
Jim - 7/10/2007 12:39 PM Hate to burst your bubble, engineers do the troubleshooting, techs just turn wrenches
Hate to burst your bubble, engineers do the troubleshooting, techs just turn wrenches
Wait a doggone minnit!
You must forgive Jim. The closest he's come on space/ launch vehicle hardware is on power point charts delivered from contractors. :laugh:
Propforce - 8/10/2007 12:34 AMQuoteantonioe - 7/10/2007 9:13 PMQuoteJim - 7/10/2007 12:39 PM Hate to burst your bubble, engineers do the troubleshooting, techs just turn wrenchesWait a doggone minnit! You must forgive Jim. The closest he's come on space/ launch vehicle hardware is on power point charts delivered from contractors. :laugh:
antonioe - 7/10/2007 12:13 AMWait a doggone minnit! At least WE at Orbital have a more-or-less officially defined category of "supertechs" - individuals whose experience, educational background or simply raw abilities place them in that enviable grey area where they have the abilities of a tech (they won't let ME turn a wrench anymore, boo hoo...) but also the analytical and deductive skills of an engineer - boy, do they do troubleshooting!Years ago, when Orbital was new and I'd recently quit my job as a marine machinery mechanic so I could go play with computers, I briefly considered approaching Orbital to see if they had any use for a mechanic with proven writing skills and some fast-evolving software design ideas. You almost make me wish I'd thought about it harder...
charlieb - 9/10/2007 11:43 AM But do note that the hours in this business are long, and vary within the 24 hour clock; you want to work out in the weather - erect rockets.. And dface the possibility of let-downs when things go ka-boom, or when satellites blink-out or have major 'strokes' in the middle of the night; those kind of phone calls lead me to want to drink heavily
Yes, the hours are long, and the level of anxiety is high. But with satellites, when you get to a certain point in the integration, the machine starts to become alive, to breath, to have a heartbeat... I&T (Integration and Testing) engineers and techs alike start to develop a real "relationship" with the spacecraft, to be able to read small, minute details of the vehicle's behavior... that's why Orbital INSISTS on having the I&T team follow through to launch integration and early in-flight ops... only they can tell wether a piece of telemetry indicates major incoming trouble or it's just a well-known, totally harmless quirk of that satellite.
The spacecraft becomes your baby, your child, you develop an endearement comparable to that of an affectionate pet... that is why when trouble develops in space, and you are thousands of [insert your favorite unit of length here] away, you have this feeling that it's right next to you, sharing your pillowcase, sort to speak... you toss and turn, wondering how you will nurse this sick child back to health.
Quite a difference from rockets; in fifteen minutes or less, your child will either perform the duty for which it was born and raised or die a sudden and nearly-instantaneous death, going out in a blaze of glory (and taking somebody else's dear satellite along, unfortunately...) With rockets, you have to develop a certain amount of detachment, of fatalism, a thick skin... once you light the fuse, you've done your job, for better or for worse.
If your rocket reaches orbit as planned, you get this sudden rush of adrenaline, the feeling of "we did it!" - there is an after-launch party, some people get thrown to, or jump by themselves on the pool, we all fly back home, and start working on the next launch.
With a satellite, it's like growing old and seeing your child go through infancy (I&T?..), puberty (launch?...), adolescence (on orbit checkout?...) maturity (operational life) and old age (end of mission)... sometimes he/she gets sick, sometimes its health is restored... many, many years of relationship with a child begotten from your craft.