Hester Baird

"The first personality type I have is Investigator, which certainly matches me pretty well! I work best when I'm solving problems and taking on new challenges, which fortunately I get to do a lot of in my job. The Quality Controller personality type involves having an eye for detail and being able to manage risk, which is critical for my job as often we deal with situations which, if they end badly, can have significant consequences all over the world. My job involves working closely within a team, which both the Trainer and Investigator types are important for. Understanding how my colleagues think and approach problems means we can work efficiently as a team to get the job done."

"I work as an Orbital Analyst, which involves monitoring satellites and debris in orbit around the Earth. It's a hugely varied job, so one day I can be assessing a potential collision between two satellites, and the next I can be monitoring conditions on the Sun which may affect satellites on orbit. The space sector is a really exciting place to work, as it is a truly global sector which is growing very rapidly, so it certainly keeps us on our toes! I really enjoy the fact that there are always opportunities to learn, such as learning new programming languages to help develop software that helps us do our job."

"I have always enjoyed Science and Maths at school, and when I was 15 or 16 I was interested in becoming a Mechanical Engineer. I chose A-Levels in Maths, Physics and Chemistry (and did AS Further Maths), and began looking round universities on open days. At this point, I realised that Space was the topic that always interested me, so I started to focus more on Physics and move away from the Engineering path. I ended up doing a 4-year integrated Masters degree in Physics with Astrophysics at the University of Manchester. I chose that degree as it had a lot of the Astrophysics and Space Science that I was interested in, but also had a lot of general physics so that I could keep my options open if I decided that perhaps space wasn't my thing after all. In my summer holidays between my years at university, I did placements in the space sector to find out whether it was something I enjoyed, and I ended up loving it. I was lucky enough to get my job at Northern Space and Security after I graduated, and that's where I am now!"

"In my spare time I'm a keen musician - while I was at university I was a member of the Wind Orchestra, playing flute and saxophone. Unfortunately Covid-19 has put a pause on playing in orchestras, but in the future I will definitely be joining my local music group. "

"My days mostly start off the same, working with the other team members on shift to assess any events that we may need to report on, such as a potential collision between two space objects. If nothing has cropped up, I then spend my time coding and developing software to help us better analyse the data we receive to work out what is going on up in space."

"AS-Level Further MathsA-Levels in Maths, Physics and ChemistryIntegrated Masters (MPhys) in Physics with Astrophysics"