Worth investing in a career of Areology if you don't work @ NASA?

[RonMaverick]

I already hear it is hard to get into NASA so is it worth investing in a career of Areology?&nbsp; Would any other company be interested in the study of Mars at all other than NASA?&nbsp; I am 19 now and from all the talk I hear they really plan on going after Mars and I wanted to be a part of that however it seems a lot like a gamble if you go into Areology because then you'd have to hope and prey you get hired in that one field right? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

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<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>I already hear it is hard to get into NASA so is it worth investing in a career of Areology?&nbsp; Would any other company be interested in the study of Mars at all other than NASA?&nbsp; I am 19 now and from all the talk I hear they really plan on going after Mars and I wanted to be a part of that however it seems a lot like a gamble if you go into Areology because then you'd have to hope and prey you get hired in that one field right? <br /> Posted by RonMaverick</DIV></p><p>If you want to study areology you would go into planetary science which is often part of the same department as geology and/or geophysics. You will end up learning a lot of geology which would definitely be useful in industry if you decide to not go down an academic path. Many people who do planetary science as a profession would not work directly for NASA (though many do), but would be professors. In any case you would have to get a graduate degree (most likely Ph.D.), and may have to do several postdoctoral positions (2-3 year jobs) before you get a permanent position. It would not be that hard to leap into industry though at any point along your academic career (most people who go into science do end up working in industry, often doing something completely different from what they initially studied/specialized in), you generally can make more money in industry with the same level of training, but you probably wouldn't be studying Mars. If you're interested more in engineering you can work for companies that build probes/satellites that orbit Mars, but you wouldn't really be doing "areology". 19 though is pretty young to start specializing on something like areology as opposed to general planetary science/geoscience. Also, just because you get a degree specializing in one thing doesn't mean you can't do something else later - people switch topics and fields all the time, you just have to take the initiative to do it. </p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>