Also called: GNC Engineer, Attitude Control Engineer
Writes the math that tells a spacecraft where it is, which way it's pointing, and how to fire thrusters to get where it's going.
You simulate a capsule docking with a space station thousands of times with random errors thrown in. When one run in a thousand misses, you dig in until you find the reason and fix the algorithm.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Master's degree, about 6 years after high school. Bachelor's in aerospace engineering; a master's in controls or astrodynamics is common.
Ways in: 4-year college, Graduate school. Training cost: $60k – $150k.
Majors to look at: Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Applied Mathematics.
Growing faster than average (about 6% over 10 years). Part of BLS aerospace engineers category.
Low risk in 5 years, medium in 10. AI helps tune controllers and run simulations; designing guidance that must work the first time stays human.
Classes: AP Calculus, AP Physics C, AP Computer Science, Statistics.
Official data: O*NET occupation 17-2011.
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