Space industry lacks workers needed to rebuild satellites lost in war: report

The RAND report finds the U.S. lacks enough engineers, technicians and assemblers to replace military satellites lost to China or Russia within a 12- to 24-month window. Annually, only ~7,000 of 208,000 engineering and 13,000 of 244,000 assembler openings meet space-industry demand, and 70% of advanced-degree graduates in laser and optical fields are foreign nationals, constraining the domestic talent pool.