Getting Engaged in Space
The space and satellite industry has some oddities that have been with it from its earliest days.
We are small in numbers. In the US, which keeps great statistics on such things, about 183,000 people made up the space workforce in 2020, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, all but 21% in the private sector. But all those people make up just 14/100ths of one percent of the total workforce. Space employment ranks just below waste collection, at #141, in its share of total American workers.
Yet, while small in numbers, we are global. More than 70 countries operate satellites, even if there are fewer than a dozen nations with launch capabilities. And we tend to be unusually passionate about what we do. One space industry recruiter told me that her company looked to hire young people who were driven to spend their Friday nights working on thorny problems in orbital mechanics. As the old saying goes, different strokes for different folks.
For the People, By the People
It was these peculiarities that gave birth, in 1983 in a bar in Denver, Colorado, to the Society of Satellite Professionals. The founders saw that the industry was destined to grow far beyond its narrow bounds. They saw the need for an international organization that existed principally for the people of the industry – to connect them for peer learning and support, to provide a broader perspective than their current job could provide, and through that to make them more valuable to themselves and their employers.
Thirty-eight years later, Space & Satellite Professionals International is still at it. This issue of The Orbiter is dedicated to that singular mission of engagement across the boundaries of discipline, job category, company and nation. It is about all the ways that the people of space and satellite engage through the industry’s biggest membership association.
They engage for three reasons. The first is to help pay the bills, by meeting their companies’ business development needs. Every technical advance, every purchase, every investment and every bit of regulatory progress starts with a relationship, and an uncounted number of those relationships have either begun or been fostered through SSPI.
The second is professional development. Structured education and training are vital. So are technical certifications and high-potential executive programs. But there is no replacement for the age-old process of learning on the job from those who excel. It happens in every good organization. Through SSPI, it also happens between organizations, among completely different job categories, even across oceans.
The third is more personal. It is to meet their need to give back to the industry they love by mentoring others who will follow them. Mentoring through SSPI takes place in one-on-one friendships, in structured online programs and in competitions that make bright young people think seriously about a space and satellite career.
So, getting engaged in space is not as crazy as it sounds. Sure, there are problems, like lack of air, the deadly temperatures and fatal radiation. But hey – “working the problem” is what our business is all about. Right?