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3 days ago
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The British space industry is struggling to compete for math, physics, and engineering graduates against a banking sector that can offer £90,000 ($120,000) salaries.
Recently, some of my colleagues in NASA have been wondering whether there are any jobs going in the UK because they are having a really challenging time right now
The UK is competing for a place in the global space industry, which could be worth $1.8 trillion by 2035, nearly tripling its current value, according to McKinsey. In March, TV astrophysicist Professor Brian Cox said it was "self-evident" that the UK should strive to play a leading role in this burgeoning opportunity.
Speaking to the same House of Lords committee this week, Dr Heidi Thiemann, director of the Space Skills Alliance, said some of the skills needed in the space sector, such as data science or software engineering, were applicable to other sectors.
"These aren't space-specific, and we are really competing against most other sectors and especially sectors that can pay a lot better than space, like the tech sector, banking or finance, and a lot of our engineering graduates in the UK do not stay in engineering. They go into finance and banking because they can command a much higher salary."
Also speaking to the UK Engagement with Space Committee, Bristol University space engineering professor Lucy Berthoud said an aerospace engineer might expect a graduate salary of between £25,000 and £35,000 ($34,000-47,000) in the sector. "If they switch into banking, for example, or they apply their skills to management consultancy, they can expect £80,000 to £90,000," about $108,000-120,000.
Like the nuclear and electronics industries, the space industry needs its own skills task force, Berthoud said.
Meanwhile, a dearth of math and physics teachers made it difficult for the space industry to form a sufficient pipeline of science and tech skills.
Thiemann said: "Engineering and physics graduates will only go to university if they've had a good engineering or physics or maths teacher at school, and it's very well known that we've consistently missed targets for hiring physics and maths teachers over many years now. If we don't have that kind of pipeline coming in, we can only hire with what we've got."
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The global political situation did, however, offer an opportunity for the UK space industry to recruit.
Also speaking before the committee, Martin Barstow, Professor of Astrophysics and Space Science at the University of Leicester, said skills could be coming to the UK if the US proposal to cut NASA's budget goes ahead.
"Recently, some of my colleagues in NASA have been wondering whether there are any jobs going in the UK because they are having a really challenging time right now, which obviously we hope comes to an end at some point soon," he said. ®
