Richard Crowther BSc Hons, Aeronautics and Astronautics, 1983. PhD, 1989.
Chief Engineer, UK Space Agency
I enjoyed the whole experience at Southampton, both in terms of my course, and the social aspects of life here. My course was very engaging and we got to undertake a range of visits, such as to the Royal Navy and the RAF.
What made you choose to study at the University of Southampton?
At the time, it was the only course that included Astronautics as part of its syllabus, so that’s what caught my attention. I did Aeronautics and Astronautics as my first degree, and then a PhD in Astronautics subsequently.
Why did you choose to study Aeronautics and Astronautics?
My first career choice was to be a pilot. I got my pilot’s licence at 18 (learning to fly before I could drive) but there were no pilot opportunities at that time so I decided to do a degree in aerospace. After being exposed to the space side of the course, the astronautics engineering, the bug bit me, and I decided to go in that direction rather than aeronautics (although I then wanted to fly space shuttles!). The great thing about the courses at Southampton, then and now, is that there’s flexibility. I knew people who transitioned between different disciplines. It was a great opportunity to try things out and see if I enjoyed them.
What did you enjoy most about your course?
I really enjoyed being on the campus, and I enjoyed the whole experience at Southampton. I was an active sportsman when I was here and spent most of my time playing sport. The course was also engaging, and through it we were able to go out on experience trips to RAF sites, to the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm, and British Hovercraft across on the Isle of Wight. It was the whole environment, and the fact that you got to meet and develop friendships with people from other disciplines – that was also the great thing about sport. I also met my wife here.
What is your current role?
I’m the Chief Engineer of the UK Space Agency. I deal with safety, security and sustainability in space. Safety is to do with making sure that when someone plans to operate something in space, it doesn’t compromise the safety of other systems. One of my jobs is to go the UN to represent the UK to deal with space issues. That’s also the case with security. Space has many dimensions, one of them defence, and I reflect government views on that, especially in relation to the UN. Sustainability is to do with making sure that the space environment is protected so that when people launch things into space they don’t compromise it for future generations.
Could you outline your career path?
When I first left Southampton, I had my astrodynamics PhD which was the study of orbital motion and trying to infer the characteristics of satellites by monitoring their behaviour from the ground. This was of interest to those working in the Ministry of Defence (MOD), my external examiner was a Fellow of the Royal Society and the head of a world renowned research group at the MOD at Farnborough. He was coming to the end of his career and suggested that I took over his activities.
I subsequently moved on to the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) at Harwell to head up the Space Technology Division there. My Director at RAL Professor Richard Holdaway CBE was a Southampton Aero/Astro graduate too (and also an astrodynamicist!). I was then seconded into the Space Agency when it was established in 2011 and I’ve been there ever since (my most recent Chief Executive Dr David Parker was also a graduate of the Aero/Astro Course and received his PhD there at the same time as I did).
In what ways did your course help you to get into this career?
Having a strong technical background, which I developed within the degree, certainly helps. Many people I deal with are diplomats, or politicians, or lawyers, and they don’t have a technical background. It’s great to have a technical background even though very often you don’t go down to a deep level technically. People respect you for the fact that you understand issues which don’t mean anything to them, so the knowledge from my degree courses is good grounding across the board.
Things like being part of the University Air Squadron and the whole social environment at Southampton helps you to develop your interpersonal skills. I met many students from other countries within the course. I find that this gives you a certain empathy with them, and people from their countries, when you subsequently meet those people at higher levels.
What do you enjoy most about your role?
The fact that it’s not standard predictable day-to-day! You never quite know what’s going to happen. At the beginning of this financial year, I had no idea that we’d be designing and planning for launching spacecraft, satellites, and rockets from the UK. The decision was made in the Queen’s Speech this year that we would aim to get satellites being launched from the UK, rather than just being built in the UK, by 2020. We’re focused very much on that at the moment.
I was in Southampton last week talking to schoolchildren at the Odeon as part of the Into Film festival screening of “A Beautiful Planet”. I spoke about space in broader terms after the film, and that was very interesting in understanding their priorities/concerns. You’re never quite sure what you’re going to do from one week to the next. In all the time that I’ve been doing the space jobs I’ve done, I have never been bored.
What do you find most challenging in your role?
Prioritising. There are so many things that you could spend your time doing. Being very busy is good; if you have such a range of things that you could be spending your time on, and your time is finite, you can very quickly fill up your day doing the things you enjoy rather than the things you have to do.
What’s been your biggest achievement?
My work with the UN – being instrumental in getting agreements. I was chair of the UN working group on near earth objects. We established a framework and protocol on what planet Earth would collectively do if an asteroid was detected coming towards the Earth. It involves trying to apply in theory (and hopefully never having to in practice) my technical knowledge to real world issues.
How do you think the space industry has changed since you began your career?
Space is cyclic. Since I’ve been in the business, I’ve seen peaks and troughs in activity and popularity. The peak currently is the interest around Tim Peake flying on the International Space Station. But there’s much more to space in the UK than just one astronaut. We have a very healthy space industry and academic community, and the government is making significant investments to ensure it continues to prosper. Space is increasingly hardwired into our lives. There will be challenges, but opportunities too.
What advice would you give to someone considering a career similar to yours?
Increasingly, in space, you’re always at the cutting edge of technology. Understanding the physical constraints is very important. As an engineer, you learn certain skillsets, but having a good theoretical, technical grounding is a very good thing.
I would also say don’t make choices too soon, and don’t ever give up on what it is you want to do. My career path sounds very logical, but it was far from that – there was never any strategic plan!