So basically, I'm in the field of PE. Would it be possible for me to be part of or work with the team of rocket designers in an aeronautical company?
I'm asking this question because I have studied thermodynamics and fluid mechanics (I know that there are many more things involved than this, but at least I'm not that bad off).
If it's not possible for me, can you give me the reasons?
And if I can, what do I need to learn, do, etc so that I'm able to pursue this?
Petroleum engineers design and develop methods for extracting oil and gas from deposits below the Earth’s surface source.
The planet Earth is surely not the only celestial body that may have deposits below the surface that are worth extracting. I think it may be possible to find a research group or laboratory that would see such a project on topic. Probably ice on the Moon may be between the first "deposits" to target.
You probably cannot do that without a rocket if you start from being on the Earth.
The problem is elsewhere. Will the institution you are going to graduate from be able to provide for you the adequate help, assistance and supervision? Doing just on your own seems risky. If your home institution does not have much experience on space mining, they may only pass your work at amateur level. Such a work will not be valued by different other institutions of any kind you may face later. Also if the scope is restricted to "extract exactly oil and gas", little can be done because these resources have biological origins and unlikely to be present in places like Moon.
