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Congratulations engineer! Your physics skills have helped the team complete their mission! Click on an engineer to find out more about their role.

Coraline Dalibot

Senior Thermal Engineer

How you got here

What your job involves

Why you love your role

The best thing for me is to be able to contribute to world-class space technologies and sciences. Spacecraft can help us to better understand our environment, helping us out with tasks such as detecting the air quality and predicting the weather forecast.​

I'm a Thermal Engineer. This means I am involved in leading thermal activities (such as the design, analysis, manufacture and testing) of space instrumentation and spacecraft to ensure that they will function at the correct temperature range​, i.e. don't get too hot or too cold, when up in space.

After a year at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, I knew I wanted to return to the UK and work in astrophysics. I continued my studies in Space Techniques and Instrumentation at the Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse. To complete my Master's degree, I did a thesis in Thermal Engineering at the Centre Spatial de Liège in Belgium and after 2 years applied for a job at RAL.

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Nijin Thykkathu

Software Developer

How you got here

What your job involves

Why you love your role

Knowing that some of the systems I am involved in developing or designing will be part of the world's largest radio telescopes or satellites. It gives me what I feel is the best job satisfaction I will ever get. I feel like the work I do is going to be used in science and bring the next best technology or have the next biggest findings in our lifetime.

The long-term project I am working on is called the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), which is an international effort to build the world's largest radio telescope, with eventually over a square kilometre of collecting area. I continuously collaborate with the technical leads from Oxford University, Cambridge University and the SKA Office (Jodrell Bank).

I always knew that I wanted to work in a software related industry. I came across RAL Space online, but I had never heard about them before. When I came to my interview I was so intrigued by the science and projects that were going on at RAL Space. That's when I decided I needed to put all my effort into getting this job.

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John Gallagher

Senior Systems Engineer

How you got here

What your job involves

Why you love your role

The best thing about my job is the people I’ve met. People who are great at what they do and enjoy it; we share common goals and work together to progress and achieve them. I work with people who I can learn from and better myself along my career.

I manage the different technical work packages within our projects, including: mechanical design/installation, electrical and control design/installation, vacuum and cryogenics. I’m responsible for ensuring that all the work packages work effectively and the systems will ultimately be able to accomplish what the customers require.

I started my career as an apprentice maintenance engineer in a semiconductor manufacturing facility. I was later offered a 5 year position at CERN​ on the Swiss/French border developing the Large Hadron Collider beamline vacuum system. I have always had an interest in space right back from watching and listening to the American astronomer Carl Sagan.

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Ellis Elliott

Senior Project Manager

How you got here

What your job involves

Why you love your role

One of my projects is due to launch in 2023, at the outset it can feel quite daunting because the timescales in space missions are so long. So working to schedules, pulling people together and seeing things come to fruition is really satisfying. When you reach the end of a project and see the finished box it's really exciting, there's a real sense of achievement in knowing that you helped them to build it.

I am a project manager – I work in the Imaging Systems Division, mainly managing projects around camera electronics boxes on GOES-R​. I'm also working with the Open University on a really exciting project called ProSPA – it's a lunar lander mission looking at contaminants and volatiles on the surface of the moon and seeing if we can use them as resources for future space missions.

I previously worked in the Oil and Gas sector - my degree is in Geology and Environmental Hazards – I was based in Aberdeen for 2 years, but I found that industry quite corporate and was looking for something more 'researchy'. I heard about the opportunity at RAL Space, went through the assessment centre and was accepted onto the graduate scheme.

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Reuben Chesterman

Multi Layer Insulation Technician

How you got here

What your job involves

Why you love your role

I like that the work is very hands on and practical, I come in at the start of the day and by the end of the day I can have some sort of product manufactured. You can see what you've achieved, which is really satisfying, especially when we are taking the MLI blankets we've made and integrating them on to the actual hardware.

I make Multi-Layer Insulation (MLI) blankets for instruments to go on satellites. Multi-Layer Insulation is the shiny covering that is wrapped around spacecraft – it's used to keep the spacecraft and instrumentation at an optimum temperature in space. It's important because if it's too hot or too cold the instrumentation won't work.

I had a job working for a medical company. I was also working in a clean room environment, sewing stents under a microscope - really fine detailed work. I then had a gap year and volunteered in the Amazon Rainforest helping out with scientific surveys. When I got back I heard there was an opening at RAL Space and I thought I'd love to work in the space industry, so applied and got the job.

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Melissa Lee

Senior Project Manager

How you got here

What your job involves

Why you love your role

The best thing for me is to be able to contribute to world-class space technologies and sciences. Spacecraft can help us to better understand our environment, helping us out with tasks such as detecting the air quality and predicting the weather forecast.​

It is my responsibility to manage the golden triangle of project management: time, cost and quality. To do this, I monitor scope (are we delivering what the customer wants?), schedule (will we deliver it on time), finance (are we in budget?), risk (what precautions should I take to mitigate potential challenges?) and resources (do my team have the skillset and time to complete the tasks?).

I studied Chemical Engineering at university. We were often engaged in large group projects to solve industry wide problems. I found I had a particular skill in bringing large technical teams together and getting the different engineering roles to talk to one another to come to a unified solution. It was then I realised I wanted to pursue a career in project management!

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