Let’s Space It. Ignacio Chechile
There are many reasons why we venture to explore space, be that physically flying on board a spacecraft, designing solutions here on the ground or reading sci-fi books and watching sci-fi thrillers that galvanize us into dreaming “What if...”
Space is arguably both finite and infinite, while the universe is expanding, and this evokes ambition, excitement and puzzlement in humans. Out of which space technology, designed for space exploration, is born. Thus, it is even more interesting to learn life stories of people behind innovation and technological development.
In this series of articles, we are introducing our colleagues behind ReOrbit technology. What brought them to the industry, their journeys towards humanity's ongoing expansion across the final frontier, lessons learnt and things they’d create if there were no technological limitations.
Ignacio Chechile has 14 years of experience in the industry. He started his career as a software engineer and currently serves as ReOrbit’s Chief Technology Officer leading our tech team towards streamlined data flow in space.
Read Ignacio's story and discover how he launched his career in space and, being part of great teams, more than a few satellites along the way; which events he ranks as the most memorable among those and why on Earth he concluded that engineering is a social endeavour.
Why did you choose space
I have a thing for technical complex systems. What to say about complex systems flying at 7.5km/s...
You started your career as
I started working as a software engineer in a simulation environment meant to recreate the orbit and body dynamics of a “virtual” spacecraft. In a way, the system created a small, digital “universe” of sorts, all coded in C. Loved every bit of it. Then my career continued into on-board software, and that journey has not stopped yet. You can be a manager and a coder at the same time, nothing’s wrong with that.
Your most memorable memory so far
Couldn’t choose only one, but a few rank very high. First launches are always memorable. The first ground contact with my first “NewSpace” mission stays with me; everybody was clapping and cheering, while I was stressed out about deployment status. Everything went well in the end.
Your most valuable lesson so far
Engineering is a social endeavour. You can’t get far without a team.
What nobody prepared you for
Providing the psychological safety that every team needs in order to “jell”. It takes time to learn that, and I am still learning.
The one thing that you will never forget
You can’t do good engineering if you don’t have some fun while doing it.
The one thing that makes you smile
When something I used to do myself is taken and owned by someone else and made better.
Imagine there are no technological limitations, what do you wish you could design/create in the space sector
24x7, all year round high-bandwidth connection to any satellite in any orbit, including deep space.
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