Tomáš Ridoško grew up in Slovakia believing that space was out of reach for someone from Central Europe. Today, as a systems engineer, he is helping to build Czechia’s space industry. His path was opened by the BUT Faculty of Civil Engineering, a rejection from NASA and the courage to attend a job interview.
Tomáš Ridoško’s interest in space began in childhood. He would watch the stars with his father, and whenever the International Space Station passed overhead, they would run outside to watch it cross the sky. Yet a career in space seemed unattainable. “I’m originally from Slovakia, and I always thought the space industry was so far removed from someone living there. I thought I would never get the chance to work in that field,” Tomáš Ridoško recalls.
From LEGO to structural engineering
When choosing a career, he therefore asked himself what he enjoyed besides space. The answer was clear – LEGO. He attended a technical secondary school specialising in civil engineering and then continued at the BUT Faculty of Civil Engineering in Brno, where he focused on structural analysis, or structural mechanics.
His calculations covered structures such as cable-supported roofs and bridges. He still considers moving to Brno the best decision of his life. During his doctoral studies, which he ultimately did not complete, he also tried contacting NASA, which was working on solar sails at the time. The response was sobering: they had no time, and unfortunately nobody was available to work with him. “That was the end of my contact with the space world,” Ridoško thought at the time.
A call from a recruitment agency changed everything
Ridoško taught at the Faculty of Civil Engineering. He even taught artistic blacksmithing at a vocational school. Then one day, a recruitment agency contacted him and asked what he knew about space. “I told them my story, and they said there was a small company in Czechia that was just starting out and helping to develop the space industry. They asked whether I would be interested,” he says. Two men were waiting for him at the interview. Only after joining did he discover that they were the company’s only employees and, like him, were starting from scratch in the space sector.
“A female colleague joined us later, and the four of us began writing project proposals for ESA (the European Space Agency – author’s note),” Ridoško recalls. Today, Ridoško is helping to innovate the space industry. | Author: T. Ridoško ArchivesThey also visited Czech manufacturing companies, teaching them what production in compliance with ECSS space standards involved. “Manufacturers in Czechia had no experience of all the documentation they needed and all the requirements they had to meet for something to go into space,” he explains. At the time, even BUT had no space-related degree programme. Today, he says, that is changing. For example, the BUT Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Communication now offers a dedicated Space Applications programme.
Micrometres instead of millimetres
A structural engineer among space engineers? An excellent choice, according to the colleague who originally hired Tomáš Ridoško. “He said that if you get the calculations for a satellite wrong, only a machine is destroyed. But a structural engineer might design a bridge that thousands of people will cross and bears responsibility for human lives,” he adds. Ridoško was therefore able to apply most of what he had learnt at the Faculty of Civil Engineering to the space industry. He picked up the additional dynamics and software skills along the way. But he says university taught him the essentials. “The faculty gave me the ability to find the information I need and the confidence to tackle things,” he says.
He sees precision as the biggest difference between construction and the space industry. “In construction, we have a saying: a centimetre is no measure, a metre is no gap. Here, suddenly, you’re working in micrometres. Dimensions on construction drawings are rounded because a few millimetres really don’t matter when you’re building a house. For space, everything has to be manufactured and assembled with enormous precision,” he laughs.
Containers for satellites
Today, Tomáš Ridoško works as a systems engineer. In his view, that means knowing “a little bit of everything” and being able to communicate with structural and thermal analysts, designers and project managers. He ensures that all parts of a system exchange information and work together. He analyses customer requirements, defines the tests used to verify them and writes proposals. “The customer comes to us with a requirement, and we have to find the best and usually also the cheapest solution,” he adds.
Among his current projects is Small Satellite Guideline, which is developing a new way to release satellites from a launch vehicle. Satellites with standardised dimensions are stacked on top of one another, much like containers on ocean-going ships. “This already works for CubeSats; we want to extend the standard to larger satellites. But stakeholder involvement is crucial. If others don’t follow the standard, it won’t work,” Ridoško notes, explaining that the standards were therefore developed jointly with manufacturers and suppliers.
Young people who go the extra mile
Tomáš Ridoško supervises numerous semester projects and bachelor’s and master’s theses. Working with students, he says, gives him energy. “I really enjoyed teaching at the Faculty of Civil Engineering and I miss it, so I’m looking for ways to return to it. One of them is working with JCMM, where we organise seminars, workshops and a STEM club in which students develop their own projects,” he explains. He values those who do more than is asked of them.
Tomáš Ridoško shared his experiences during this year's STEAM Slam at the FME BUT. The event for talented secondary school students is organized annually by the JCMM association. | Author: JCMM Archives He believes there is plenty of talent in Czechia. He mentions LASAR, for example: a company founded by young students who turned an idea into a business and now use ground-based lasers to restart satellites. According to Ridoško, young people are also drawn to the field by the Czech Journey to Space initiative and events organised by ESERO, the European Space Agency’s education office.
Courage and enthusiasm are essential
He considers the most important moment of his career so far to be finding the courage to attend an interview at a space company and step outside his comfort zone. “I thought it would be a disaster. But I told myself I had nothing to lose by trying. What was the worst that could happen?” he recalls. He still follows that advice today. “It’s something that has stayed with me and that I’ve started applying elsewhere in life, because I saw that it could lead to good results,” Ridoško explains.
He advises young people to do work they can be proud of. “You may make a mistake, but if you stand behind your work and are proud of what you’ve done, it will always be worthwhile,” he believes. The second ingredient for success and a fulfilling life, he says, is enthusiasm, because success may not come immediately. “I notice it in interviews, too. It’s completely different talking to someone who is passionate about what they do, when you can see that spark. That will always earn you extra points,” Tomáš Ridoško concludes in his advice to young people interested in working in the space industry.
