Also called: RTG Engineer, Fission Surface Power Engineer
Designs nuclear batteries and small reactors that power spacecraft and future Moon bases.
You work on a radioisotope power system for a deep-space probe or a reactor for the lunar surface, testing heat converters in a vacuum chamber. These power sources let probes work for decades in places too dark for solar panels.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Master's degree, about 6 years after high school. Master's in nuclear or aerospace engineering.
Ways in: 4-year college, Graduate school. Training cost: $60k – $150k.
Majors to look at: Nuclear Engineering, Aerospace Engineering.
Growing faster than average. Small field at national labs and NASA.
Low risk for 10 years. AI helps with design studies; first-of-a-kind reactors for the Moon need human engineers and testing.
Classes: AP Physics, AP Chemistry, AP Calculus, Computer science.
Official data: O*NET occupation 17-2161.
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.