I was a space fanatic in Jordan – now I’m a Rolls-Royce engineer helping Britain reach for the stars

Growing up in Jordan, I didn’t have a direct route into aerospace, but that early passion stuck with me. I joined the Jordanian Astronomical Society at 13, competed internationally at 15 with a project on space debris, and, by 17, received a NASA award for my physics-based research on laser shielding in space.

That passion eventually led me to the University of Sheffield, where I won a scholarship to study Aerospace Engineering. It was there that I first got to apply my knowledge beyond the classroom.

I was part of the Sunfire II team - a student-led project that built the UK’s first regeneratively cooled, 3D-printed student rocket engine.

We set the record for the first student-built liquid rocket engine test in the UK, but more importantly, we learned how critical hands-on experience is in this field.

Working on the combustion chamber showed me how deeply interconnected every part of a system is - and that’s what sparked my current career as a systems design engineer at Rolls-Royce.

Today, I work on some of the most advanced aircraft engines in the world, assessing components for repair and reuse on engines like the Trent 1000.

But what excites me just as much as my career is empowering the next generation to shape the future of the UK space sector.

The UK space industry is worth £18.9 billion and supports over 52,000 jobs. Yet according to the latest figures from the UK Space Agency, more than half of UK space companies report critical skills shortages. Without urgent action, we risk losing ground in the global space race.

That’s why initiatives like Race2Space - a national student competition supported by the UK Space Agency - are so important. After struggling to find facilities for testing our Sunfire II engine, my teammate, Henry Saunders, and I came up with the idea for Race2Space: to give students across the UK the chance to design, build and hot-fire (ignite) their own rocket engines, with proper access to facilities, mentorship and funding.

This week, hundreds of students from across the country gathered at Westcott Venture Park - the historic site of Britain’s Cold War rocket programme - to test the engines they’ve spent the past year designing and building. Many of these students are working on real engines for the first time in their lives, solving real-world problems under real-world conditions.

The University of Sheffield team successfully fired a powerful rocket engine that burns alcohol and liquid oxygen, producing around 5,000 Newtons of thrust – enough to lift a small car off the ground.

This hands-on, real-life experience is making a difference. Many former Race2Space participants have gone on to jobs in aerospace, and space technology companies.

The programme also aims to boost diversity in a sector that still has a long way to go - currently, fewer than one in five (19%) engineering and technology undergraduates are women.

As a woman in engineering, I recognise how intimidating it can feel to enter a field where few people look like you. That’s why I now mentor young engineers through Race2Space. Sometimes, all it takes is seeing someone like you doing something you thought was out of reach. You don’t have to be fearless. You just have to take that first step, even if it feels scary.

If the UK wants to stay competitive in the global space race, we must urgently invest in education initiatives like Race2Space, strengthen the talent pipeline, and create more accessible opportunities for young people to gain hands-on experience.

Without decisive action to make the sector more inclusive and diverse, we’ll continue to face critical shortages of skilled engineers, and the future of UK space innovation will be at risk.

Pre-registration for Race2Space 2026 is now open. You can find out more here. 

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Dana Arabiyat is a former Race2Space participant now at Rolls-Royce as a systems design engineer.

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