Astronomical Engineering?

Question

I’m only a Junior in High School, but I do really well in and enjoy math and have always been interested in a space-oriented career and my dad recommends a career in engineering. I think Astronomical Engineering seems like an ideal career right now, but I would like some more information about it. I’ve searched the internet and now I’m hoping for someone to just have some more information about maybe schooling, salary, and details of what really goes on being an astronomical engineer.

Answer 1

What you are looking for is called "Space Engineering". You usually graduate from a normal engineering school. Its preffered if you mojor in electronics, Signals or Contol and robotics because these are the majors most valuable to Space industry. After that you can apply for Graduate Studies with a Space engineering major in mind. A lot of the Astronomy Departments in the US have these kind of programs and there is a good program ongoing now in Europe called Spacemaster which is a Masters program that deals exactly with that. What you will study on a graduate level will concentarte on Orbital Dynamics for Satellites, electronics in Space, image processing, computer programming and other more scientific related subjects like Plasma phyisics, thats why i specified the majors i listed before so that you can be well prepared. I have no idea actually about the salaries, buts its like any other job in the world, you do it well you get paid well :))

Answer 2

I don't know if anyone is offering a specific program in Astronomical Engineering, but there are engineers working in astronomy. Satellites, space probes, space vehicles, and astronomical observatories require a variety of engineering disciplines. You could go into electrical, mechanical, computer, or optical engineering, depending on your interests, with a minor in physics or astronomy.

For observational astronomy, studying at a school with a strong astronomy program might enable you to specialize. If you've searched the web, you probably saw this program at the University of Texas:
http://www.as.utexas.edu/reu/