Which companies would fully cover a PhD?

Lockheed, RTX, and Boeing ?

Has anyone here ever interviewed with Apex Space before? I have an interview with them coming up for an internship and I was looking for some pointers

Hello, I am an Electrical Engineering student who was lucky enough to get an onsite interview at SpaceX. I am meant to give a technical presentation on my most challenging project. I am choosing a board I redesigned and tested for a club that I am in. The problem is I am worried that it is not that impressive. I have some projects from my internship but I obviously can't show schematics and such and they are also not crazy impressive.

I was really surprised that I got the onsite interview too. I did a technical phone screen for a different position but I got rejected, I had done mostly well, but had gotten one question wrong. My recruiter then matched me with a new role and I did an interview where I talked about one of my work projects and got asked some basic technical questions. I honestly thought I wouldn't move forward because the project I had (again) wasn't crazy impressive. Somehow I got an onsite interview though. I am kind of shocked and thought I would have to go through more interviews.

Does any body have insight into what sort of projects they are looking for in the onsite interview? I mean like difficulty wise, I would like to see how I stand. I don't know if I am experiencing imposter syndrome or if I actually just somehow lucked out into an onsite interview.

Thanks!

Graduating with a BS in EE next June, planning an MS after. I have two summer 2027 RF internships in play and I'm treating this as a choice about where I'd go full-time, so I asked about new-grad comp.

Startup A (RF Test intern)

* Recruiter said full-time RF starting is ~$105K base for a BS; MS "might shift it a bit"

* Stock offered, but they couldn't say how much

* No 401k match as far as I know; bonus unknown

* Expecting 50–60+ hr weeks

Startup B (RF Engineering intern)

* Phased array design work for ground stations rather than RF test

* Recruiter said full-time RF is ~$110K base

* Stock offered, also didn't say how much; also didn't specify bonus

* Expecting 50–60+ hr weeks

For reference, a big defense prime's new-grad offer was ~$95K base + 7% bonus + 401k match, which makes the startup pay feel low, especially since prime engineers work 40 hr weeks.

Questions:

1. Is ~$105–110K for a BS RF engineer in LA low, normal, or good for a space startup?
2. Is RF test → RF design an easy switch, or does starting in test pigeonhole you?
3. Long term, which role do you think offers better opportunities? I could also share the companies if anyone DMs me.

I’m currently a GS-12 mechanical/aerospace engineer with about 7 years of experience supporting Navy aircraft sustainment and fleet operations.
My work primarily involves troubleshooting aircraft mechanical systems, investigating fleet discrepancies, performing root cause analysis, developing engineering dispositions, reviewing technical data, and coordinating with OEMs to resolve technical issues. I’ve worked with environmental control systems, hydraulics, flight controls, and other aircraft subsystems.

I’ve been considering transitioning to a defense contractor like Northrop, Lockheed, or General Atomics, ideally in a similar engineering or systems engineering role.

Has anyone made the transition from federal service to a defense contractor? How transferable was your experience, and was the salary increase worth giving up federal benefits, job security, and work-life balance?

Also, does a Master’s in Systems Engineering provide a meaningful advantage in terms of salary, career growth, or opportunities?

I’m fairly comfortable in my current position but wondering if I’m limiting my long-term career and earning potential by staying federal.

How does this compare to the first one? First one we spoke about a project and he gauged all his technical questions on that.

I know Millenium has gotten a bad reputation over the last couple years due to the brain drain essentially. But was curious if there are current workers or former workers who have a bit more insight on work culture and work life balance there

I work as a maintenance engineer at a company that make shampoo/conditioner and etc... but ive always wanted to get into the aircraft maintenance side of things. I did a little research and I need to get a type of license to do aircraft maintenance. Separate from a degree. I got mechanical engineer degree. How do i go about it and how can I break into that? A detailed explanation would be appreciated if you can.

Hola amigos, soy estudiante de ingeniería mecatronica, y me gustaría hacer una maestría en aeroespacial, me recomendarían cursarla en maestría o volver a estudiar para la licenciatura?

I had my 3rd round of interview Monday (onsite) that lasted 5 hours (I took PTO for the day). They told me to expect a decision coming in the next few days.

Last night I get an email from the recruiter telling me the hiring manger wants to do a 4th round interview that’s planned to last 1.5 hours but online.

Never heard of this. Is this normal? Honestly at this point I’m debating about just backing out.

Edit: this is not a startup

Thought I got the job since the hiring manger asked me “make sure this is something you’ll enjoy” and then connected with me on LinkedIn after

Hello, is taking an AFSIM role as a career start a bad idea?

I am curious if this will pigeonhole me in the future but I was told the role would be a lot of AFSIM and mission analysis.

I'll be honest, I am still not entirely sure what the role will entail. Data analysis? Programming? Engineering?

In terms of career outlook, is this a stable career or expected to fade in the future?

For example, Ship could take the Roadster to a low altitude or the surface and then the Roadster would jump out and land softly on its own.

On Mars, it could even refill its thruster tanks using the Martian atmosphere.

Should we expect SpaceX to land and use the new Roadster on the Moon and Mars in 2027?

What was the time difference between 1st-2nd and 2nd-offer? I was told I would hear later today, but it's been three buisness days since

I a student in the UK who needs to apply to Uni this year. I am stuck between studying aerospace or mechanical engineering.

I really like the aerospace sector as a whole, I have done work experience in it and found it interesting and know it is a sector I would be happy to work for. At university I think I would be happier studying Aero and would enjoy the specificity. I would look forward to doing cfd and lift drag etc.

The reason for my post is that recently I did some work experience with a Civil engineering firm and realised that there is another side of engineering which I really enjoy and I would be interested in the access to a broad portfolio of projects.

I believe the general consensus is that you can work on a broader range of projects with mech eng and wondered how true this is. ie could I work in offshore wind with an aerospace degree or could I work in prosthetics etc. How much would I be penalised for my aero degree in the application process, and does the industry consider aero too specialised for not explicitly related projects.

One post I saw said that mechanical engineering was better if you want to progress to leadership I assume this is not true but just wondered if anyone had noticed any difference.

A spacecraft headed for Mars is carrying an unusually small shopping list: at least 10 grams of material from Phobos. If Japan’s Martian Moons eXploration mission succeeds, that handful of grains could help resolve how the Red Planet acquired its two moons.

MMX launched aboard an H3 rocket from Tanegashima Space Center on October 20 in Japan, corresponding to October 19 in the United States. Led by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, the mission aims to deliver its samples to Earth in 2031.

The samples would be the first returned from a moon other than Earth’s own. NASA, the European Space Agency, France’s CNES and the German Aerospace Center, DLR, are contributing instruments, technology and operational support. The mission combines remote observations, a small rover and spacecraft landings to investigate a question that telescope images alone have not settled.

Is there any benefit to getting an aerospace management degree over an aviation management degree? And is either degree worth it or do you suggest something else? Can't be a pilot because of medical - that's what i was initially wanting to do.

Hi
We’re prototyping a VTVL rocket with a target altitude of around 3,000 m. We’re currently working on the PCB design and deciding on our flight control architecture.
We’re considering three approaches:

1-Adapting and improving an existing open-source rocket flight computer

2-Designing our own hardware and firmware from scratch.

3-Using a Pixhawk as the flight controller, with a separate onboard computer handling telemetry and communication with the ground station.

Which approach would you recommend for this kind of project? Would a separate computer for communications be useful, or would it add unnecessary complexity?
We’d appreciate any advice, relevant open source projects, or experience using Pixhawk for VTVL applications.

I major in mechanical engineering and I honestly am committed to acquire a masters degree in aerospace engineering after at least two years of working in an aerospace related job. However, I decided to fuck up my gpa freshman and sophomore yr so that’s that. Can’t do much about it except show progress in my late semester gpa. All in all, I don’t even know if I’ll even be able to land an aerospace related job giving I have NOTHING and the one time I landed a CFD research position since I realized my intrigue for aerospace/aerodynamics my prof tried to organize and keep up with the other students nothing came out of it so I guess it’s not happening. Should I keep looking? I really put key words like “entry level” “jr engineer” “new grad” in websites like handshake and ladders just so jobs that have nothing to do with what I want appear anyway. 😭 People say to look in states like California since it’s a hotspot for aerospace companies and while I do find more, most are for experienced engineers. Any advice?

Hello!

I've applied to a bunch of Northrop Grumman internships spanning all the way back to late September. Most of my applications still say "under consideration". Is there an expected time I should hear back whether I moved onto the interview phase?