<p>Hello, I am currently a student majoring in the Aerospace Engineering field and I am having trouble pinpointing what I want to do in the future. I want to be able to design and research spacecraft for space exploration, but I also want a deeper understanding of space and its different bodies as well as a much deeper understanding of the physics and math underlying it all, so I guess like Astrophysics. I would very much love to do both, but it seems my university (UC Irvine) will not allow such a double major and it is quite disappointing. If any of you can offer ANY advice on what I should do it would be very appreciated.</p>
<p>Can you take electives in astrophysics or physics? Maybe a minor would be allowed?</p>
<p>Question: did you research where you would find employment in this area? NASA has no money.</p>
<p>Because, you know, launching Orion was free. After all, NASA just launched that and since they have “no money” how could it be anything more than that? Also, NASA is obviously the only place to do space-related work. Give me a break.</p>
<p>Did you research space careers before you made such a statement?</p>
<p>What type of work are you looking to do? Astrophysics or Aerospace Engineering? If astrophysics, be aware it is not in any way, shape, or form, an easy road to head down (PhD is required).</p>
<p>If you are primarily just looking to take some classes in astrophysics, or complete a degree just for learning’s sake, I think that is fine. I may be wrong on this, but most colleges don’t usually offer undergraduate astrophysics degrees… I believe you complete a physics program and specialize in astrophysics (either in grad school or as an undergrad). Some schools, like UChicago have undergraduate programs, but I think they are somewhat rare. </p>
<p>Not sure I’d get into AE today - not with the budget cuts etc. and not with consolidation and not with the current mindset that one insanely expensive plane is cheaper than several much cheaper planes… and so on.</p>
<p>At work we have a couple of AE’s doing software or management, and one PhD AP also doing software. We’re not an AE company :)</p>
<p>It sure is a good thing all those feelings about the cost of a plane are totally relevant to space systems, then.</p>
<p>Did the physics department deny your request to declare a double major? Who told you that you can’t double major and what was their line of reasoning?</p>
<p>Regardless, some anecdotal words from my perspective. I’m halfway through my junior year now. I couldn’t fit the full astronomy double in my graduation time frame, so I settled for a cherry picked minor, which has turned out to be closer to what I was looking for; deeper understanding of my choice of topics, legit rigor to back it up, and I’ve kept my semester schedules mostly sane. I’ve crossed paths with the other people in AE opting to double in physics/astronomy or at least minor. There aren’t that many of us -2 doubling physics (1 senior, 1 sophomore), 1 doubling astronomy (sophomore) and 1 doing the “fluffy” astronomy minor (junior) and me with my custom minor. At the very least, you should be able to take electives in topics that you find interesting and/or would supplement what you’d like to do with your undergrad degree. Realize that designing spaceships is a broad idea where the mystique of the unknown is sexier than the gritty reality. You may find you fall in love with a more focused system - like structures, propulsion, GNC, astrodynamics, human factors–including life support, colonization/habitat, space/habitat suits, etcetera etcetera. I surprised myself with how much I enjoyed learning how to program with CUDA for my computational astrophysics class (term project). If nothing else strikes me fancy next semester I already have two professors (1 Aerospace, 1 Astrophysics) willing to pay me to help them with their research (they need CUDA programmers).</p>