Also called: Deployables Engineer
Designs the hinges, motors, latches, and springs that unfold antennas, solar panels, and robot arms in space.
You build a mechanism that must unfold perfectly once, after months in a cold vacuum, with no one there to give it a nudge. Testing means deploying it again and again on rigs that offload gravity.
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 mechanical engineering.
Ways in: 4-year college, Graduate school. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering.
Growing much faster than average (about 9% over 10 years). Uses BLS mechanical engineers projection.
Low risk for 10 years. AI helps design and simulate; building, testing and debugging hinges and latches stays hands-on.
Classes: AP Physics, CAD class, Shop or machining class, AP Calculus.
Official data: O*NET occupation 17-2141.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.