Persons | “You’re a girl” – Tiia Tikkala lives “on the edge of technology”, and for many it seems to be too much

When inflate the balloon full of air and let go, it tosses around uncontrollably for a moment.

The rocket works somewhat on the same principle: the substance exiting through the nozzle pushes the rocket forward.

However, the balloon can get stuck in the ceiling lamp or splash in the party guest’s face. You can’t take that kind of risk with a rocket. The rocket must also fly further, often into space.

It makes designing rockets complicated.

“The speeds are really high and the forces acting on the rocket are really big. In a way, we are at the extreme limits of technology in terms of what is possible to do”, says Tiia Tikkala.

That’s cool of him.

24 years old Tikkala has just graduated with a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.

The shirt says DARE. It is a student organization of rocket engineers, in whose team Tikkala is designing a rocket for the European Rocketry Challenge to be held in Portugal a year from now.

A lot of similar teams have been established recently. The European Space Agency, Esa, reports that it has also become easier to establish startup companies in the space industry.

You could say that space has “trended”.

“In our faculty, this has been seen in such a way that, when previously people came to study aeronautical engineering, now they come to study specifically space technology,” says Tikkala.

He has also chosen rockets instead of airplanes.

Now However, Tikkala is on vacation and is trying to remember how thrust vector control turns into Finnish (adjustment of push direction, maybe).

The hair is wrapped in a bun the size of two fists.

Although space has become mainstream, for women it still seems more distant. Only about 10 percent of the university’s students in the field are women.

In light of the statistics, Tikkala is therefore an unlikely rocket engineer.

“This field is very masculine and conservative. Someone is probably always wondering what I’m doing here, even if they don’t say it directly.”

However, Tikkala knows that she is in the right place. This is because he has also had time to be elsewhere.

As a child Tikkala wanted to become a professional roller skater. Later, she seriously considered a career as a dancer.

In the summer before her anniversary, she wanted to travel and meet new people. He looked for alternatives online and came across a space camp organized in Norway.

“I thought it sounded really funny. I was interested in space on the same level as probably everyone else. In the way that you look at the night sky and think that we are quite small here.”

The camp was a turning point. The young people designed their own rocket, which was launched at the end of the camp. The atmosphere was festive and joyful. Tikkala wanted to experience it all again.

He spent the next four summers at the camp as a counselor.

High school after Tikkala got to the University of Helsinki to study physics.

In one course, former students of the subject came to tell what kind of jobs they ended up with.

“I realized that nothing sounded like what I wanted to do. There were quite a lot of researchers, but quite a few did not work in physics but had ended up in the banking industry or as consultants,” says Tikkala.

He decided to apply to Aalto University to study technical physics and got in. But it didn’t feel like my own either.

Rockets and space felt. In Norway, he had met people who were studying space science in Holland. The application process was not easy, but Tikkala decided to try.

The following fall, he began his third freshman year.

When something seems a bit scary or too difficult, Tikkala thinks that “this is probably something that should be done”.

“For example, this interview. I thought that was pretty exciting – I don’t know if I want to go. Then I thought that this is clearly scary enough that maybe I should give it a try.”

However, no one will give interviews or build engines if they are not given the opportunity to do so.

When Tikkala joined the student organization, she participated in the intro project carried out in small groups. A good opportunity to learn something new, Tikkala thought.

The goal was to build a rocket whose mission was to transport the egg on board intact back to the earth’s surface.

A parachute was needed for a safe landing. I had to do that myself.

“I was the only woman in the group. The first thing they said was that ‘you’re a girl, so you can probably take care of sewing this parachute’. Yes, I do like to sew, but I really didn’t come here to sew.”

Tikkala heard that women in other groups had also ended up sewing parachutes.

Later Tikkala has consciously applied to participate in projects where her expertise is valued. If someone doesn’t want to work with him, it’s out of their hands.

In the previous project, Tikkala asked for a programming assignment. He was asked to design the code that would move the rocket engine and make the flight control more precise.

“I didn’t know the programming language to use and I didn’t know anything about control technology. I had no idea what I was doing. However, I got a lot of help, and after half a year I had written software that you could use.”

It was magical.

Tikkala often has the feeling that she is not really the smartest person in the room. He likes to spend time in such rooms.

“You’d have to be a genius to be able to do this alone. And even for such a type, it is useful to listen to the opinions of others.”

Rockets used mainly for two purposes: warfare and science. Tikkala is interested in the latter.

“The most important thing for me is just to build a rocket that is good and safe.”

In the future, rockets will be increasingly used for space tourism as well.

For example, the former CEO of Amazon Jeff Bezos flew into space for ten minutes in 2021 on the rocket of the space company Blue Origin, which he owns. Afterwards, wearing a cowboy hat, he thanked the Amazon employees who made the whole event possible.

The grandiose capture aroused rage instead of admiration, and Bezos’ rocket quickly turned into a huge phallus in memes.

Dart while listening, he wishes that the future would look more like him: uncomplicated and curious.

You can also aim for the stars with your feet on the ground.

“I have such an attitude in life that I just want to do interesting things and work with people who are nice to work with.”

If the opportunity arose, Tikkala would definitely like to go to space. Because that would be cool.