Employer: Inmarsat

There are more than twenty-one thousand objects larger than 10cm orbiting the Earth. Eleven of  them are Inmarsat’s fleet of satellites, which work non-stop to bring mobile satellite communications worldwide. Inmarsat have been operating globally since 1979, and are the industry leader.

The Inmarsat-3 satellite (Wikimedia Commons/NASA)

Their most recognisable products are satellite telephones, which provide communications (almost!) anywhere on Earth – you’ll have seen them in news reports being used by aid workers following natural disasters which have wiped out conventional communications. Chances are, the pictures you saw were beamed back by other Inmarsat products.

The company also provides things like TV and WiFi in airliners, and they’re the cornerstone of the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System, an international protocol improving safety at sea. Inmarsat also operates in government, aviation, and enterprise sectors.

They’re currently working towards GlobalExpress, the first globally-available high-speed broadband service. They’ve offices around the world, with headquarters in London and other UK presences in Aberdeen.

Inmarsat have an extensive careers website. Also take a look at their Technology Development Programme, a two-year rotation for new STEM graduates. They’re looking for good engineering graduates, but any STEM route will be considered. We particularly like their application process – along with a covering letter and CV, they ask you to answer the following:

If you stand outside during the daytime, how old (approximately) is the sunlight you’re currently seeing? You can assume photons are produced at the centre of the Sun and have a mean free path within the Sun of 1cm.

Tricky!