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Ask HN: Contributions to climate science as an aerospace engineer?

11 points by visviva ↗ HN
I have a PhD in aerospace engineering and a fairly well-established career in the space industry (mostly R&D). Recently, I've been thinking about how to contribute more to climate science, since I see climate change as a major, urgent problem. I believe I have skills that are transferrable to other relevant fields, and I'm wondering how I might make the most direct impact.

As part of my job, I do a lot of modeling & simulation, which involves technical computing, including some work with high-performance computing. Most of my background is in dynamics and estimation/control, so I have a lot of experience with linear algebra, differential equations, and statistics.

I've considered ways to remain in the space industry (e.g. by working climate-related satellite missions), but I'm also not opposed to opening the aperture even wider - e.g. joining an organization that can use my programming skills for more direct climate science purposes.

I'm hoping the HN hivemind can help me generate more ideas here, or even just provide more varied perspectives.

9 comments

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meristohm
I hope you find a good fit. Have you looked into complexity science? I first heard the term in Susanne Simard's book Finding the Mother Tree. [0]

Along the way, lobbying your elected representatives (or equivalent) towards regulations that reduce our collective demand for energy conversion (etc--triage, starting with energy sector?) seems helpful, too. Good luck!

[0] https://www.worldcat.org/title/finding-the-mother-tree-disco...

visviva
I hadn't heard of complexity science, but it looks interesting and I'll read into it more - thanks!
tectonic
- We very much need better methane and N2O monitoring satellites.

- Work on space-based solar power.

- Work on satellites that monitor CO2 emissions at a more granular level than current systems.

- Work on systems for detecting deforestation and monitoring coastlines and oceans.

- Use EO data to optimize solar panel placement. And maybe wind farms if there is a way to get surface wind speed using SAR, occultation, or other techniques like you can get ocean wave height with smallsat radar.

- Figure out how to use space-based data to monitor stratospheric aerosol levels.

- Measure snow depth: https://climate.nasa.gov/news/3170/nasa-scientist-discovers-...

- Use EO data to predict severe weather events and save lives.

Edit: we often write about climate + space in https://orbitalindex.com.

visviva
Great list, I appreciate it.
devoutsalsa
How about electric planes or synthetic fuel from captured carbon dioxide?
iancmceachern
I worked for a guy who had previously worked for Boeing. He was a CFD expert and he said his job at Boing was to shave off 5% of the fuel economy of a plane by using CFD simulations of the wing to refine its design.

It seems that 5% is a small number, but it's huge when your talking about one of the biggest consumers of fuel.

My point, it's easy to think about leaving aerospace to do some fancy startup with a 10 year horizon to positive impact. We also need folks working within the existing companies, working diligently to reduce our consumption methodically in real ways that make real differences in the short term. If we can shave 5% a year in efficiency for the next 10, we end up in a very different place.

lm28469
Too bad the rebound effect means your 5% saving becomes 5% more traffic
visviva
Great perspective, and it's something I'm definitely keeping in mind as I think about this. In fact, I think I can draw a lot of lines (some of them quite complicated) between my current work and "potential impacts to climate science", but I'm trying to consider options that have a more direct/obvious connection as part of this exercise.