Maths in the Workplace By David Lynn       Astronauts Maths in the Workplace By David Lynn

What IS AN ASTRONAUT? An astronaut is someone who is trained to operate or work upon huge heavily armed spacecraft and prevent aliens attacking the earth and taking all of our recourses. Astronauts are people who are trained to operate or work upon spacecraft. They have many different jobs and roles. A space craft usually contains at least five members, each with a different role. These include: a commander, pilot, mission specialist, engineer and researcher. With each job as important as the next.

How Do astronauts use maths? Before Astronauts are even in space, lots of maths is done. Scientists have many problems to figure out, such as building and designing the spacecraft, finding out how the spacecraft would react to different conditions, how it would move in its orbit and simply how many recourses the Astronauts would need. All these factors are determined by maths. On board the spacecraft the pilot will have to use a lot of maths when docking onto the ISS (International Space Station) for example. The pilot will have to understand the maths in orbital calculations to adjust the speed accordingly. They will also need to be good with angles to position the spacecraft right. Its not just the pilot that has to do maths though. Every member will use maths for many reasons including research. When researching, Astronauts use many formulas.

What maths do Astronauts use? Astronauts use many forms of maths as mentioned but the most important are: Trigonometry, Calculus I, II, and III, Ordinary Differential Equations, Linear Algebra and basic forms such as adding, subtracting etc.

How do you become an astronaut? It takes a lot of hard work and effort to become an astronaut. You need a bachelor’s degree in mathematics, physical sciences, biological sciences, or engineering to even stand a chance. Once achieved it is then required to gain three years of related experience. A master’s degree equals one year of experience and a doctorate equals three years. If you are accepted you need to undergo a few years of intense training and physical exams.

Thanks for listening!