How the Australian Defence Force launched an ambitious student into a space engineering career

In eight years, Flight Lieutenant (FLTLT) Kaylee Verrier went from a country high school student to an Aeronautical Engineer in the Air Force, helping design international space domain awareness exercises. On top of this, she had a front-row view of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket as it launched in California.

FLTLT Kaylee Verrier grew up in the regional Victorian town of Sale, where her passion for space began.

“I always had a fascination with anything beyond the world. I loved the idea of the stars and the planets as a little kid,” she said.

“That became studying astrophysics in high school as well. And then, as soon as I found an ability to specialise my undergraduate degree in space engineering, I took that chance and studied orbital mechanics and space situational awareness.”

Today, FLTLT Verrier is an Air Force Aeronautical Engineer in the Australian Defence Force’s (ADF) Space Command — one of five operational ADF domains, alongside air, land, maritime and cyber. In her current role, FLTLT Verrier is involved in space planning for international and domestic space exercises.

“I work within the Space Force Generation area to design and execute space exercises, which are used to train our force in what space is and how we operate,” she said.

“There are thousands of satellites up there, and we use a whole array of ground-based sensors to track what’s in orbit so that we can make sure that everything stays safe.”

Open path

FLTLT Verrier’s path to Space Command began in high school, when she was deciding what to study at university. Studying at the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) as a trainee-officer meant that she could attain her Bachelor of Aeronautical Engineering degree without paying a cent — no fees and no HELP debt.

But the military held further appeal.

“It went from being an academic pursuit to being a career that I really wanted to have for the rest of my life,” she said.

“It combined my academic pursuits with also the love of fitness, and it gets you outdoors, and it helps you travel, and it opens the doors to just so many endless adventures.”

It also meant she could continue her academic development. As well as graduating with undergraduate honours, FLTLT Verrier has earned a Master of Space Engineering and a Master of Space Operations, as well as gaining certifications in Scramjet design and launch vehicle design. This postgraduate study was also through ADFA at the University of New South Wales and was funded by the ADF.

Designing a career

As a graduate engineer, Verrier’s first posting was with the Air Warfare Engineering Squadron in Adelaide.  

“I did a couple different jobs, primarily around aeromechanical design engineering, but I also got to work in flight safety engineering and launch management.”

That gave her the opportunity to develop her design skills.

“I had never heard of Air Warfare Engineering until I walked in the door on my first day,” she said.

“Someone in Defence could come to you with a problem, and it was your job to design a solution.”

That experience continues to inform her work. Having a background in space engineering means that when she’s developing exercises or joint training scenarios, she can draw on her deep understanding of how satellites operate in orbit or the different trajectories a launch vehicle might travel upon.

For instance, FLTLT Verrier was part of a small team who designed Australia’s participation in Global Sentinel, a space domain awareness exercise undertaken at the USA’s Vandenberg Space Force base in California. This security cooperation effort hosted by US Space Command is designed to strengthen international partnerships and improve operational collaboration.

“It’s probably one of the most fun times I’ve had in my career so far,” FLTLT Verrier said.

“We had around 30 different countries participating in this exercise, and effectively it’s all about training the space domain awareness capabilities, which means learning how to use different sensors to track space objects and then understand the data you’re actually seeing.”

We have lift-off

Topping off this experience was the chance to watch SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket as it launched from the Vandenberg base. The experience, FLTLT Verrier said, drew her closer to her counterparts from participating countries, allowing them to share their enthusiasm for space.

“I was speaking to engineers from multiple countries, including Italy and the Netherlands, and they all, at the base knowledge, have this same drive and passion for space engineering, and they all work in the same area,” she said.

“All of us work in the space domain, but most of our countries don’t do our own space launch, and so you don’t get to see that kind of thing in most of our home countries.

“For almost all of us, it was the first rocket launch we got to see with our own eyes, and it was just amazing.”