Montreal Space Symposium

The youth interested in working in the space industry face a variety of challenges. There is a lack of awareness to different types of careers in the space sector, with most associating it to aerospace engineering or astronomy. The reality is that the space industry is multifaceted, there is no handpicked subset of disciplines that “qualifies” whether it’s applicable or not to the space domain. If anything, the space sector is growing towards plurality.

It should be noted that space is an enabling domain and one of its facets strives on improving accessibility. This can be seen through the lens of SciCom: an interdisciplinary field that goes beyond the confinement of technical knowledge and blends philosophy, culture, politics and social sciences to name a few. There is, however, a lack of awareness for many young people on the composition of the Canadian space sector. For example, different companies, academic labs and institutions, museums and nonprofit organizations all collaborate in the space industry. The domain itself is woven in a foundation of inter-connected entities, be it individuals, governments or large corporates. Despite the rich distribution of fields that are involved, it remains a subtlety to both the public and particularly the youth.

Furthermore, there’s an essential need to increase opportunities that encourages visibility to auxiliary fields that are continuously working closely to the space sector. For many, there is an apparent boundary separating jobs that are ‘in” from those that are “out” of the space field. Thus, it is important to vocalize the diversity and accessibility of viable options that can be pursued. To many young graduates and university students, the broadness of the industry is not well encapsulated. This may be due to a low visibility itself and some combination of public engagement from the space community which focuses largely on its technical elements. Such introspections are equally important to bring sustainable conversations while engaging the public’s perception.

It is along these lines that the landscape of navigating the space industry can become challenging, if not completely hidden. To this day, professional growth and pathways remain deeply rooted to technical backgrounds, despite the emergence of non-technical fields becoming more prevalent. Leveraging an open dialogue may not only contribute useful insights for Canadians but may also provide exposure to concepts of global awareness. Differentiating the barrier of entry for opportunities in space by utilizing accessible platforms has its own merits and therefore serves as an important topic for discussion.

Panel as part of the track entitled "SGAC: #NextGen Canada" - Developed by the Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC).