Last week ClearanceJobs detailed a few of the great achievements of the defense industry, some of which reach back centuries. Even today—perhaps especially today—a security clearance and job application at a defense contractor promises a career beyond building weapons of war. Much of the work done by the defense industry exists expressly for the purpose of peace, and the resulting research, scientific achievement, and engineering marvels will define humanity for centuries to come. Perhaps the most notable example this year is the ongoing European Space Agency (ESA) Rosetta mission, which captured the world’s attention by successfully landing a robotic probe on a comet. Some speculate that the data that will result from this mission might well answer fundamental questions of human existence.
This mission would not have been possible without defense contractors, experience, engineers, and imagination resulted in the physical manifestation of what was once only the lofty dream of young scientists. I sometimes wonder if this golden age of cinematic science fiction has distorted for the public what it means to send something into space. Just sending an object 62 miles up into the technical height of space is all but impossible and fraught with danger. (Note to Air Force, Navy, and NASA test pilots: reach an altitude of 62 miles and you’re eligible to be awarded your astronaut wings.)
WHERE NO ONE HAS GONE BEFORE
From atmosphere to gravity, Earth wants to keep our feet firmly planted on the ground. And once we break free from Earth’s clutches, we reach an infinite void that doesn’t want us there. In space, human biology—which also wants us safely on terra firma—begins working almost immediately against astronauts. Muscles atrophy at a relentless pace—NASA has found that after six months at the International Space Station, astronaut muscles diminish by 30%, even with a rigorous exercise schedule. Bones in space deteriorate at 0.4%-1.8% per month. Per the U.N. Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation, the average annual dose of ionizing radiation on Earth, totaled from both natural and artificial sources, is 3.0 millisieverts (mSv). Those planning a round trip to Mars, for example, can expect 1000% of that amount of radiation. And those hazards are before you even consider such basic human essentials as air, hospitable temperatures, water, and supplies.
No part of human existence suggests we should be able to leave the earth, but there we are. Manned spaceflight aside, even the process of sending probes, satellites, supply vessels, and science platforms into space is mind-blowingly impossible. Like those old coyote-and-roadrunner cartoons, it sometimes seems that if ever we bother to look down and realize we’re no longer standing on the cliff, the world’s space programs might come barreling back toward the surface of the planet. We’re up there because the smartest minds in the world refuse to look down—we’re up there because the best brains of the human race refuse to accept the limitations of reality. “The impossible” is just another day at the office.
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE
The successes and harrowing feats we’re seeing today were set in motion in 2004 when the European Space Agency launched the Rosetta spacecraft from Kourou spaceport in French Guiana. It wasn’t a direct flight, either. Four “gravity assists” from Earth and Mars were needed before Rosetta could meet up with the comet. (This video illustrates the remarkable journey of the craft.)
In August 2014—ten years and 4 billion miles later—the vehicle rendezvoused with comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The following month, Rosetta achieved orbit with the comet. With only a window of a few weeks, the Rosetta mission team had to select a landing site—no small task when one considers that the whole of the 67P is irregularly shaped, very little is known about its surface, and the thing is traveling 84,000 miles per hour. At that point the Philae probe was launched, and achieved a successful landing on November 12, 2014. The point here is that this mission had virtually no margin for error. That alone is confirmation that defense contractors employ the kind of physics and engineering expertise found nowhere else in the world—or out of it.
ONE MAN’S MAGIC IS ANOTHER MAN’S ENGINEERING
So who made this engineering wonder? The primary contractor on the project was Astrium, which built not only the Ariane 5 rocket (the most powerful in Europe’s space program) but also the Rosetta spacecraft. Fifty contrators from the U.S. and Europe contributed to the overall mission. According to the ESA, Alenia Spazio handled the “assembly, integration, and verification” of the spacecraft. Astrium also contributed to the Philae lander—when the German Aerospace Research Institute ran into problems with Philae’s landing gear and sensor packages, Astrium engineers were brought in to help resolve the situation.
These names might sound familiar to anyone who follows or is part of the defense industry. Astrium is no longer Astrium, of course. Last year the company merged with Airbus Military and Cassidian (each former European Aeronautic Defence & Space Company [EADS] divisions) to form Airbus Defense & Space. Airbus has been in the news of late because of a new deal with the U.S. Army to provide UH-72A Lakota helicopters. That aircraft is built in Columbus, Mississippi. Jobseekers take note: Airbus also operates out of Alabama, Florida, and Virginia.
Airbus might not be the first company that comes to mind when you think about space exploration, but this week it’s certainly proved its mettle. In a press release, Airbus said of the successful Rosetta mission: “We at Airbus Defence and Space are extremely proud to have contributed to the Rosetta success story with our innovative concepts and designs, robust and reliable systems, and the dedicated work of employees both at Airbus Defence and Space and at all the other partners in the industrial consortium and ESA.” Other space projects contracted to the company include the Columbus module of the International Space Station, and the Automated Transfer Vehicle (which handles resupplies the ISS).
Alenia Spazio, meanwhile, is no longer Alenia Spazio. (A lot has happened in the defense industry since these companies sent Rosetta on its history-making voyage.) In 2005, the company merged with Alcatel Space to form Thales Alenia Space. The company and its predecessors built everything from the Space Shuttle’s Multi-Purpose Logistics Modules to the pressurized components of the aforementioned Automated Transfer Vehicle. You certainly know one of Thales’s most celebrated partners: Raytheon. (Indeed, Thales-Raytheon is hiring on ClearanceJobs right now.)
FOR ALL MANKIND
The defense industry often gets a bad rap (sometimes deservedly). But it is too often denied credit for the great good it’s done for all of humankind. Comet 67P, on which Rosetta’s Philae lander is now collecting volumes of data, is 4.6 billion years old. It’s made of the same stuff that would go on to form our solar system, making it a perfect, previously unimaginable window into our home today and neighborhood’s past. In a very real way, it could tell us something about who we are and where we came from. When those answers come, the defense industry deserves its share of the credit.
