Also called: Spacecraft Operations Engineer
Plans and runs the day-to-day operations of satellites and robotic probes.
You build the command sequence for tomorrow's operations, check it against spacecraft limits, and watch the data come back to confirm it worked.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 4 years after high school. Bachelor's in aerospace, electrical engineering, or physics.
Ways in: 4-year college, Military. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Physics.
Growing faster than average (about 6% over 10 years). Part of BLS aerospace engineers category.
Medium risk for 10 years. Automation and AI fly routine satellite operations, so each engineer covers more spacecraft; anomalies need humans.
Classes: AP Physics, Computer science, Statistics, AP Calculus.
Official data: O*NET occupation 17-2011.
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