"When SSTL was founded I was a pre-school aged kid living in Germany – not sure what I would have answered, if you had asked me back then, what I would like to work as. I always loved physics and mathematics in school and decided to study Mechatronics (Mechanical/Electrical Engineering and Computer Science) at the Technical University of Dresden, as I wanted to do ‘something with space and maths’.
I came over to the UK in 2006 to study for two terms at the University of Surrey as part of an Erasmus exchange program, as I knew it had a focus on Aerospace engineering. Back then SSTL still had a clean room facility at the University of Surrey and I applied for an internship which meant I initially joined SSTL as a student in 2007!
Having finished my degree in Germany, I re-joined SSTL in 2008 in the Attitude and Orbit Control Systems (AOCS) Team, where I still work today as a senior engineer.
The most exciting part of the job for me is the commissioning, where years of work finally get put into practice – in my discipline we perform a lot of simulations on the ground and system testing on the spacecraft, but can never test the system fully representative in zero gravity – so the first real life test will be in space. The anticipation in the control room until we get the first contact after launcher release is nearly palpable and then it is all hands on deck to get the satellite into a 3-axis controlled state to start checkout of equipment – at that point a lot of pressure is on the AOCS engineer as it is our subsystem that is responsible to stabilise the satellite.
I have been lucky enough to participate in several commissioning campaigns – with my first ‘go it alone’ campaign as junior AOCS lead engineer in Canada for the Sapphire mission in 2013, or the complex challenge to commission six spacecraft at once for the Formosat-7 constellation mission in 2019, standing out.
I love the camaraderie with my colleagues at SSTL and the willingness to work together to solve problems. After 18 years being part of the SSTL history, I think I can say I got my wish to do ‘something with space and maths’."
Stefanie, thank you for sharing your story – and for almost two decades of helping us keep our satellites stable and pointing in the right direction!