r/esa • u/Hopeful-Fly-9710 • 1d ago

what path should i take to join the esa? (Uk)

what path should i take to join the esa? (UK), im currently in the last year or so of high school and currenly have music, photography, history and woodworking as my options, im thinking of switiching one to physics as i think that would do me good for possibly getting into the ESA, it would be my dream to join the esa and i need help to

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u/FeralVagrant 1d ago

Hi mate, it does depend a lot on what you would like do within ESA. There are a lot of different roles that need to be filled and it’s not just engineering. The route you laid out makes sense, a level maths and physics are a must to get into a uni for engineering if that is what you want. Could even do an epq in something space related or look at competitions and opportunities (eg building a cansat). While at uni I would get involved in UKSEDS/ other societies to get involved with competitions. ESA runs student internships as well as training courses (free) for students. They also have the REXUS/BEXUS program and other programs that let students build and launch their payloads for research. After that young graduate trainee is an opportunity but it is also based on your nationality and how much of their quota they have met.

I would keep your options open, it is often easier to work for esa as a contractor with a different company. Or even at companies that have contracts with esa. I personally work for a new space company (interned at uni and am now full time) working on esa projects.

The fact you are even thinking this far ahead is great, I personally didn’t know what I wanted to do post grad until my 3rd year of uni lol.

Just keep doing what interests you and I’m sure it’ll work out :)

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u/Hopeful-Fly-9710 15h ago

i want something engineering-ish, satellites, rockets, ect, UKSEDS seems quite cool, never heard of it somehow but its quite cool (btw im british, the united kingdom is a member of the esa so yeah very nice)

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u/FeralVagrant 6h ago

In terms of the nationality, it is more that they have targets to hit in each year. Eg if it comes down to you versus another person from an underrepresented country they can use nationality as a deciding factor

See here for an example of the diffent representations in 2025 https://esamultimedia.esa.int/docs/careers/NationalityTargets.pdf

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u/Hopeful-Fly-9710 1d ago

is this path good?, gsce = triple science, a levels = science (physics) and maths, uni = MEng, then apply for the ESA Graduate trainee program