The best space jobs survive (unlike some rockets) 😬

We are officially halfway through January.

The New Year vibes should now start to settle into ‘normal work’ but while that happens, some very cool things are happening 👀

Firstly, all eyes are on Norway. Isar Aerospace is expected to launch on Tuesday. And so far it’s all silence…

And then we have the drama from last Sunday’s PSLV failed launch. Typically this means game over for all the payloads but not for a tiny European startup which turned this accident into an incredible stress test (to say the least).

And of course there are very many cool jobs around. I get the feeling that it gets better by the day.

🚀 Spotlight: New on findaspacejob.com

Here are some of the best space jobs available today:

• Space System Engineer @ ARCA Dynamics (Italy)

  👉 What can I say? Go and apply. These are probably the most “real-space-engineering” roles you can find.

• Copernicus Atmospheric Missions Manager @ EUMETSAT (Germany)

  👉 A pretty niiiice job. Top 2 on this week’s newsletter 😉 (so far I’d apply to both).

• AEM Developer @ ESO (Germany)

  👉 If you wonder what AEM is then this is probably not the job of your life, but if you do, then it’s the opportunity of your life.

• System Integration Engineer @ ALL.SPACE (UK)

  👉 In charge of testing and validating the company’s user terminals. The thing is that these aren’t “ordinary” terminals… just saying

• Galileo Ground Segment Security Engineer @ ESA (Netherlands)

  👉 Help maintain Galileo!!

• MAIT Optical Engineer @ FSO Instruments (Netherlands)

  👉 Interested in working on advanced satellite laser optical communications? If so, this job has it all, mate.

• Junior Internal Logistic Specialist (m/w/d) @ Isar Aerospace (Germany)

  👉 Isar Aerospace will be launching soon. Here’s your change to join before they do…

Plus a lot more. Don’t think these are the only cool roles around.

🗞️ News: The waiting game & the survivor

1. The silence in Norway

Isar Aerospace is currently close to enter into the launch window for their second flight of Spectrum. We haven't heard much from Andøya this week. We can all guess they are very, very busy running through the final checklists to ensure this becomes the first private orbital rocket in Europe. If they launch before the end of the month, they beat the rest of the European field by a lot. Launch is scheduled for Tuesday so be ready.

In case you’re new to life the industry, this is what happened to Isar Aerospace on their first launch attempt 👇

2. The survivor: Orbital Paradigm's wild ride

By now you know that ISRO’s PSLV rocket suffered an anomaly on Sunday, tumbling after the third stage burn. It’s a tragedy for the 16 satellites lost, but there is a wild silver lining for Orbital Paradigm.

Their payload, the Kestrel Initial Demonstrator (KID), actually survived the failure. CEO Francesco Cacciatore revealed that the capsule managed to separate (likely triggered by thermal conditions as it fell back with the stage) and transmit 190 seconds of flight data while screaming through the atmosphere.

The stats are wild:

• It withstood 28 Gs of force (!!!!!!!)

• The heat shield held the internal temp at 30°C while the outside was cooking at 85°C+

• It proved that even in a disaster scenario, the reentry tech works (so a partial success for them)

What’s next? They are moving ahead with a larger 150kg vehicle (launching on SpaceX in April 2027), which will feature a propulsion system from Pangea Propulsion. A tough day for the rocket, but a massive validation for the capsule.

3. Open Cosmos wins the "Spectrum War"

Huge news dropped yesterday: Open Cosmos has secured Liechtenstein’s priority Ka-band spectrum filings to build a sovereign broadband constellation for Europe.

The reason why this makes the news is that this spectrum was previously held by Rivada Space Networks… and because they will now focus on building and operating a sovereign broadband constellation for Europe. Not bad.

This is obviously a massive level-up for the company. And they are moving fast as well because the first two satellites are launching this quarter with Rocket Lab. Talk about speed there.

4. Artemis II: is this for real?

NASA could launch Artemis II as early as February 6th! That is less than three weeks away.

If schedules hold, we are about to see humans and the European Service Module leave LEO for the first time in 50 years. Europe provides the power and propulsion that keeps the astronauts alive, so this is a big one for Airbus and the 10+ European nations involved.

This is a big deal.

And to spark some partially biased debate… here’s something for you (not that I agree completely, though, haha)

Fingers mega crossed for Isar Aerospace this Tuesday. It’s going to be awesome! If they finally launch I’ll make sure to let you know.

Until next week!

P.S. If you’re hiring, post your space job here to reach the best space talent in Europ

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