Dip joined SSTL’s graduate programme in early 2017 after completing an MEng in Aeronautics & Astronautics with Spacecraft Engineering at the University of Southampton. He asked to join the propulsion team from the outset, and his first project was the bi-propellant propulsion system for Quantum.
Since then, his career has taken him from development testing and spacecraft integration to launch sites thousands of miles away.
In 2018 and 2019, Dip was lead propulsion engineer for the Formosat-7 launch campaign, supporting six spacecraft with monopropellant hydrazine propulsion systems. He later helped take SSTL’s water propulsion system from its earliest concepts and worked on the preliminary design of the Lunar Pathfinder propulsion system.
Between 2021 and 2023, Dip broadened his experience at propulsion start-up LMO Space, developing chemical propulsion systems for CubeSats using hydrogen peroxide, alongside work on demisable propellant tanks and the qualification of commercial components.
He returned to SSTL in 2023 and has since worked on the flight model design, build and testing of Lunar Pathfinder’s propulsion system, further development of our water propulsion technology, and a new 17.5-litre diaphragm propellant tank - the largest SSTL has produced to date.
Some of the experiences that stay with him most, though, happen away from Guildford. Dip has supported propellant loading campaigns for CarbSAR, HOTSAT-2 and Formosat-7 in the United States, including at Vandenberg Space Force Base and Cape Canaveral.
“The travel is probably the best part of my job,” he says. “I’m lucky enough to go to the launch site and support our propellant loading operations. You get to immerse yourself in the history of spaceflight at these places… and, if the timing is right, actually see a launch up close.”
His sights are now set further afield. As new heavy-lift launch systems create more opportunities beyond low-Earth orbit, Dip wants to be part of the engineering that enables a more sustained human presence around the Moon and, eventually, Mars.
“I’d really like to work on solutions for the emerging lunar and Martian markets,” he says. “In particular, I’d love to be involved in human spaceflight and help establish the UK as a real force in this area as we expand our reach beyond low-Earth orbit.”
It is easy to talk about space in terms of missions and technology. Dip’s story is a reminder that behind both are engineers who take an idea, turn it into real hardware and stay with it all the way to the launch pad.