Thermal Analysis & Space Physics Intern Review

Daily tasks involved a mix of department process improvement (writing scripts to assist department work) and working on thermal analysis for missions. Exact workload depends on what missions are ongoing and at what stage. Report writing and data processing was sometimes part of my daily workload, if a report deadline was approaching for a given project. Thermal analysis often involved a lot of geometric modelling and parameter setup using industry standard thermal analysis software.

Given lots of responsibility over internal tasks such as process improvement. Given some responsibility over live projects - generally I was able to work independently when working on projects, however my work would often need checking by the engineer I was working under especially on the analysis work and report writing.

Learned plenty of coding skills, including languages I hadn't worked in before such as Fortran. Learned to use key thermal analysis software and some FEA software as well. Developed a lot of business sense and got a lot of insight into the space industry - thermal engineering gives you a good view over the whole project.

Lots of good support from my line manager and from others around me - my department was helpful and pretty much anyone was willing to answer questions.

Busy atmosphere, everyone always had lots to do on several projects at once within the team. Interns didn't face as much pressure as full time engineers, but it did ensure there was always lots of work to do. Lots of support and connection between teams.

Really enjoyed my year in industry - had a lot of fun working on some cutting-edge projects, developing loads of useful skills. There was always something to do or something that I could help on and it's hard to match the space sector when it comes to how interesting your work is.

Yes