Deep Space High: Space For All

Did you know they there’s a job in space exploration no matter what you love to do?!

Whether it’s math, sport or cooking, there’s going to be a career in space exploration that you could be working in when you’re older.

In ‘Deep Space High: Space For All’ Principle Pulsar, Sam, Quark and the whole Deep Space High classroom are learning all about all the different careers you could have in space.

Mathematicians are very important when it comes to space exploration

There are loads of problems to be solved to make sure missions are successful and mathematicians are the ones who solve them!

If you love maths then there are a load of jobs for you in space exploration.

What sort of problems do mathematicians have to solve?

Getting supplies to the International Space Station (ISS) is a big one. It might sound easy but there are a lot of things to consider like ‘How much fuel so you need to reach the ISS?’, ‘How much of each supply do you need to pack?’ and ‘What’s the most efficient way to get the supplies to them?’.

Getting supplies to a space station might not sound like a big deal but it is! It’s not like nipping out to the shop to get bread and milk, everything they might need has to be delivered in these supplies shipments and that includes air and water so that the people on board can live!

Moving astronauts and cosmonauts, science experiments, food, water, air, spare parts, and other supplies to and from the ISS is a highly choreographed international operation that must be executed with near perfection, every time. And it’s the mathematicians job to make sure everything is planned correctly.

This can all be more complicated then it might sound as well!

In an 8-month span between October 2014 and June 2015, three different resupply missions were lost during or shortly after launch! Three different rockets from three different companies experienced three different failures. According to statistics, this scenario was supposed to be nearly impossible. So the people planning these missions need to plan for lots of different scenarios as things can go wrong.