At all levels and ages of learning we see so many students with a passion for space, yet so few make it through to work in the industry.   I find this deeply upsetting.

Is it for a lack of places in the industry?  Not that I know of.  Good, passionate, and well trained people are always hard to find and usually much in demand.  Is it for a lack of programs?  Again no, there are superb space education programs available at all levels from high school to post graduate.  Yet, somewhere those who should be destined to work in our industry are siphoned off by others.  I don’t know about you, and call me bias (I’ve been called far worse), but I find this unacceptable, after all we should have the best working for us, yes?  The best building and maintaining humanity’s communications net, a wonder of the 21st century?  Here, I firmly believe that SSPI has a unique roll to play in being both a forum for space education and a bridge for students to navigate their path to our industry.

There are a myriad of excellent programs focused on space education.  From high school programs with the Conrad Foundation and the United Space School, followed by excellent undergraduate programs and SEDS, through to the superb networking and professional education offered by the ISU and its programs both abroad and via their central campus in Strasbourg.  Each organization and university is focused on delivering excellence in their own niche and none of them really talk to each other.  Wonderful programs in their own right and yet each siloed and to a great extent reinventing the wheel  - maybe not in the content of their programs but in the recruitment of their students.  Today, there is no one central effective organizing body or "watering hole" where the industry and space education can come together.  This is the role I see for SSPI.

With a life long passion for space education I’m fortunate enough to be involved with programs from the high school level through to the graduate level on both sides of the Atlantic and Pacific and now with SSPI.  As a founder of my own company I’ve also been on the hiring end of searching for exceptional people.  Over the last few years I’ve seen this disconnect in space education while at the same time seeing a potential solution in work. 

It wasn’t until becoming involved with SSPI as a member, a sponsor organization and more recently as VP of Education on the SSPI board that I began to see the potential for SSPI to play such a unique role: there is no other organization in the industry that can, with such neutrality and universal support, tackle issues such as education and recruitment.  There is no other organization that sees the whole life cycle. Through its membership SSPI can speak to the industry’s ever present need for good new recruits and provide feedback regarding the need for educational programs, and through its mission it can in turn proactively work on a solution via its scholarships.  More so, through its Chapters SSPI can reach out to students from high school to post graduate to employment in the industry.  Members have the unique opportunity to reach out to students and help guide them from passion to practice.  SSPI offers a neutral platform for all of the space education efforts to come together to network, learn from each other, and to meet and speak directly with their ultimate end users and supporters, the space industry.

On the Isle of Man we’ve found tangible success in working with those students at the high school level with an interest and passion for working in space though without any notion of how to achieve their dreams by providing them with a road map and goals for further education and insight into jobs in the space industry.  We tell them about ISU, about undergraduate programs in the US, UK and throughout Europe.  We put them in touch with professors and resources such as the SSPI handbooks.  We place that end goal firmly in their sights and help them navigate the system and come out the other side.  All they need is a basic route map and a helping hand.  They need their education programs to open the next series of doors and contacts for them and to guide them from high school to the right undergraduate programs and on to post-graduate and finally on to employment in the industry. 

Today, for our students on the Island that road map has come from ManSat out of necessity.  I’m hoping that SSPI can take this idea further and implement it as a resource for our members, chapters, sponsors, and ultimately our members of tomorrow who are our students today. There is no other group of people who will fulfill this role.  No one else is going to do this for us.  It won’t be easy and it won’t happen overnight, but of all organizations in our industry and in the world today, I see SSPI uniquely placed to make this happen.  After all, what’s the point in being here if we can’t make good things happen?