St Edmund's

From St Edmund’s to Space: Old Edmundian Charlie Roe Inspires with Mars Mission Talk

We always encourage our students to think “globally” but this week they were also encouraged to think on an inter-planetary basis!   Our Science Society has proved to be one of our most successful, dynamic and popular academic enrichment activities.  Students have been able to benefit from a fascinating range of talks from leading scientists on cutting edge research projects.  This week, as you will see from Miss Hummerstone’s report, took the society boldly where there had never gone before…

Science Society Talk Report – Tuesday 29th April 2025

On Tuesday 29th April, Sci Soc were excited to welcome Charlie Roe to speak to us in school. Charlie is a former pupil of St Edmund’s and was in one of Ms Hummerstone’s first A level groups here! He now works at Airbus Defence and Space as a Senior Spacecraft Systems engineer. He is currently the lead Systems engineer in the team developing the European Mars lander for the ExoMars mission. The mission will launch in 2028 and aims to land a rover on Mars that will drill 2m into the surface to collect and analyse samples in the search for evidence of previous life.

Charlie left St Edmund’s in 2010 and studied Astrophysics at the University of Hertfordshire, completing a BSc and MSc. After travelling and working in various industries including software engineering and building climbing walls, Charlie decided to revisit his first love of space. He returned to university, completing an MSc in Space Engineering at the University of Surrey. This led to his current role at Airbus.

Charlie talked to us about the history of Mars exploration and some of the challenges that his team face in developing Europe’s first lander for the Rosalind Franklin mission. He gave us insights into the reality of working in the industry and what his typical day involves, including working in the Mars yard where the Rovers are tested. Ms Hummerstone was lucky enough to visit Charlie at Airbus the week before and was able to explore the Mars yard and see some of the model rovers in action!

Finally, he offered advice both specific to the industry and more generally about approaching future study and careers. It was incredibly useful to hear him talk about the decisions he made and some of the paths he took that turned out not to be right for him. He was very relatable and honest about his career path and his advice would be relevant to working in any field.

The talk was well attended by Sixth Form scientists and also some invited Upper and Middle Fifth. It was a brilliant opportunity to hear from a former pupil working in space exploration and we are really grateful to Charlie for giving up his time to visit us. We look forward to welcoming him back again in the future.

Ms Rose Hummerstone