In September of 2006, I linked to a resumé on Space Careers for an Aerospace Engineer. The “cool credential” from that resumé was “Senior Member Research Staff – Assigned to Goddard Institute for Systems, Software, and Technology Research (GISSTR), Project, Super Lightweight Interchangeable Carrier (SLIC) & Space Elevator conceptual design”.
There’s a new resumé on Space Careers for Spacecraft Operations Engineer. This one has the “cool credential” of:
Research Thesis: Feasibility of a Tethered Space Elevator: A technical feasibility study into the possibility of a large scale orbiting tethered elevator, including analysis of tether material, dimension, structure and survivability in the space environment. The results were then applied to synchronous and non-synchronous tether systems; the perturbations affecting these systems were summarised qualitatively and a study of the orbital debris environment at the relevant altitudes completed.
This thesis was done in the time period of 1998-1999 at Cranfield University in the UK. Here’s hoping that someday soon people with these skills will not be looking for jobs as Spacecraft Operations Engineer, but rather something along the line of Space Elevator Development Engineer or Space Elevator Operations Engineer.