Also called: Space Cleanup Engineer
Designs spacecraft that capture dead satellites and old rocket stages and drag them down to burn up.
You choose between nets, harpoons, magnets, or robot arms to grab a tumbling dead satellite, and test the approach in simulators and on air-bearing tables.
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 engineering; master's helpful.
Ways in: 4-year college, Graduate school. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Aerospace Engineering, Robotics.
Growing much faster than average. Small, fast-growing field as low Earth orbit gets crowded; not tracked separately by BLS.
Low risk in 5 years, medium in 10. AI helps autonomous capture; designing and testing first-ever cleanup spacecraft stays human.
Classes: AP Physics, AP Calculus, AP Computer Science, CAD class.
Official data: O*NET occupation 17-2011.
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