Space Career Profile: Peter Van Geloven

Describe a typical day at your job

Management of ESA space programs and their interaction with Belgian space actors.

What’s the coolest part of your job?

Meetings at ESA and ESA premises. Meeting other people and entities active in space.

Are there any elements of your job that you dislike?

The administrative burden.

How did you get your current job?

Free solicitation on a vacancy.

What do you expect to be the biggest challenges/changes someone in your role will face in the coming 10 years and do you have any advice on how to tackle them?

The impact of Newspace (e.g. SpaceX, …) on space and the resulting decreasing importance of institutional (governmental) space. The devastating role the European Commission is playing to dominate the European space scene. The response should be a profound institutional mentality shift and you can help that to happen.

What subjects did you take in school/college and how have these influenced your career path?

The hard stuff : mathematics, physics, thermodynamics, electronics and chemistry. A profound study of these is strictly necessary to be able to do the job. No pain, no gain. But once you get the hang of it, the real (!) world reveals itself to you in all its magnificent aspects and unlike many other persons, you will understand it !

What non-technical skills are necessary for your job?

Social skills. Being able to negotiate. Eliminate emotional choices. Being rational.

How did you develop those non-technical skills?

Studying mathematics etc definitely helps to develop those other skills. Avoid working in your own little corner.

What have been the most rewarding events in your career so far?

Working at the cabinet of the State secretary for Science Policy where I helped defining the space strategy.

What is your dream job?

This one.

What advice would you give to someone considering this job? Are there, for example, important personal characteristics or good work experiences they can undertake?

Don’t be scared or discouraged by the required difficult science/engineering studies. No pain, no gain. You do not have to be the best. Your motivation and your will to reach the goal is more important.
Working in a federal administration requires a thick skin and a strong personality. If someone of your administrative colleagues ever gives you the compliment that you have become good civil servant, then it is time to quit and to move to the space industry.
Having technical experience and tinkering from your early childhood onwards (Lego, electronics, model airplanes, water rockets, construction works, …) definitely is an asset. The best tennis players started to play at the age of 4.