Soaring opportunities in field of space science

In the non-med science, you have Physics, Mathematics and maybe Computer Science. If you have the mentioned subjects, you are right on target. Physics alone is fairly good. Space science is not just looking up to the sun, sky and the stars. It is crucial to humans living on earth. It is also caring for the environment, weather and defense systems. 

Astronauts, rocket scientists, meteorologists are some of the visible careers. But there are also Astronomy or Astrophysics and Geology. With the latter two, your job scope is widened and diverse. You can choose either a career around a distant planet or study via satelittes, the pollution on earth. Hence, the qualification to work in the field is also wide-ranging.

One institute that immediately comes to mind to anyone who thinks of Space Science is Indian Institute of Space Science & Technology, Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala. This is one of the premier universities that offer courses in Space Science from undergraduate to the doctoral and post-doctoral level.

There are also five-year integrated courses in BS-MS and MSc., Physical Science in Indian Institutes of Science Education Research (IISER), in seven places in India. There are a number of credible institutes and the institute you study does matter. Engineering degree in related subjects like Aerospace Engineering or Avionics is also an excellent option. Indian Institute of Technology offers MSc., and PhD., dual degree programmes. Most Space Scientists complete a PhD. 

The JEE, conducted by CBSE and IIT are the things that you should seriously be concerned about at this stage. Admissions to most of the institutes are based on this. For a Physics lover like you, NASA in itself is not a ‘rocket science’. But I am afraid that it is for an Indian! NASA mostly recruits its citizens. There are openings for International Students in joint ventures or an astronaut support in International Space Station. The doors were narrowed sharper after India tested its nuclear power. Stay connected to the information disseminated by NASA. Its website tells that NASA is more than astronauts. They have space for scientists, engineers, IT Specialists, accountants, technicians and many more. 

Why not ISRO ? It could be a good road map to NASA. Career Opportunities in the Indian Satellite Industry, mainly operated by Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), are sky high. It has crossed 50 international customer satellite launches, including the USA and still counting. There is plenty of demand for human resources in various categories. Like NASA, the industry needs astronauts, engineers, and computer specialists for coding, handling data, analysing and storing them, scientists in research institutes, teaching faculty, to develop technology for space missions and ground-based machines and materials that are linked to space programmes. 

Curiosity and the quest for knowledge, hard work and staying rock solid at failures are the built in particles in the anatomy of a Space Scientist. If you dream to be the one, cultivate all these to land there safely.