Tip #2 in “How To Be a Rocket Scientist” is to expand your concept of rocket science. The old and popular players (like NASA) are still out there. But there are MANY MANY other companies and institutions that play innovative, critical, and interesting roles in the aerospace world. They may be small, specialized niche-serving companies. And sometimes they are huge companies with googles of cash…ha ha. News is out today that Google is taking over the rent and many infrastructure upgrades for the NASA Ames site next to Google’s headquarters in Silicon Valley. Here is one news source:
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/google-signs-60-year-billion-nasa-lease-26818320
Guess who Google is going to need now? Lots of rocket scientists! More specifically, people who know about aircraft hangar design and construction. According to the article there will probably be satellite and robotics projects there too. Google already has a lot of aerospace-flavored or aerospace-centric projects in their huge portfolio. For example, they have copied the mapping and abilities of Google Earth and done it for our moon. See and play with it right here: www.google.com/moon/