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Aerospace engineering is the branch of engineering behind the design, construction and science of aircraft and spacecraft. It is broken into two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. The former deals with craft that stay within Earth's atmosphere, and the latter deals with craft that operate outside of Earth's atmosphere. While aeronautical engineering was the original term, the broader "aerospace" has superseded it in usage, as flight technology advanced to include craft operating in outer space.[1] Aerospace engineering, particularly the astronautics branch, is often informally called rocket science.[2][verification needed]
[edit] OverviewModern flight vehicles undergo severe conditions such as differences in atmospheric pressure, and temperature, with structural loads applied upon vehicle components. Consequently, they are usually the products of various technologies including aerodynamics, avionics, materials science and propulsion. These technologies are collectively known as aerospace engineering. Because of the complexity of the field, aerospace engineering is conducted by a team of engineers, each specializing in their own branches of science.[3] The development and manufacturing of a flight vehicle is complex and demands careful balance and compromise between abilities, design, available technology and costs. [edit] HistorySee also: Aviation history Alberto Santos-Dumont, a pioneer who built the first machines able to fly, played an important role in the development of aviation. Some of the first ideas for powered flight may have come from Leonardo da Vinci, who, although he did not build any successful models, did develop many sketches and ideas for "flying machines".  The origin of aerospace engineering can be traced back to the aviation pioneers around the late 19th century to early 20th centuries, although the work of Sir George Cayley has recently been dated as being from the last decade of the 18th to mid 19th century. One of the most important people in the history of aeronautics,[4] Cayley was a pioneer in aeronautical engineering[5] and is credited as the first person to separate the forces of lift and drag, which are in effect on any flight vehicle.[6] Early knowledge of aeronautical engineering was largely empirical with some concepts and skills imported from other branches of engineering.[7] Scientists understood some key elements of aerospace engineering , like fluid dynamics, in the 18th century. Only a decade after the successful flights by the Wright brothers, the 1910s saw the development of aeronautical engineering through the design of World War I military aircraft.  The first definition of aerospace engineering appeared in February 1958.[1] The definition considered the Earth's atmosphere and the outer space as a single realm, thereby encompassing both aircraft (aero) and spacecraft (space) under a newly coined word aerospace. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration was founded in 1958 as a response to the Cold War. United States aerospace engineers launched the first American satellite on January 31, 1958 in response to the USSR launching Sputnik in October 4, 1957.[8]
[edit] ElementsSee also: List of aerospace engineering topics Some of the elements of aerospace engineering are:[9][10]
The basis of most of these elements lies in theoretical mathematics, such as fluid dynamics for aerodynamics or the equations of motion for flight dynamics. However, there is also a large empirical component. Historically, this empirical component was derived from testing of scale models and prototypes, either in wind tunnels or in the free atmosphere. More recently, advances in computing have enabled the use of computational fluid dynamics to simulate the behavior of fluid, reducing time and expense spent on wind-tunnel testing. Additionally, aerospace engineering addresses the integration of all components that constitute an aerospace vehicle (subsystems including power, aerospace bearings, communications, thermal control, life support, etc.) and its life cycle (design, temperature, pressure, radiation, velocity, life time). [edit] Aerospace engineering degrees See also: List of aerospace engineering schools Aerospace (or aeronautical) engineering can be studied at the advanced diploma, bachelor's, master's, and Ph.D. levels in aerospace engineering departments at many universities, and in mechanical engineering departments at others. A few departments offer degrees in space-focused astronautical engineering. The Technical University of Delft in the Netherlands offers one of the top European aerospace educational and research platforms, while the programs of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Rutgers University are two such examples.[10] In 2009, U.S. News & World Report ranked the undergraduate aerospace engineering programs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Georgia Institute of Technology, and the University of Michigan as the top three best programs for doctorate granting universities in the United States. The other programs in the top ten were Purdue University, California Institute of Technology, University of Maryland, University of Illinois, Stanford University, University of Texas at Austin, and Virginia Tech in that order.[11] The magazine also rates Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the United States Air Force Academy, and the United States Naval Academy as the premier aerospace engineering programs at universities that do not grant doctorate degrees.[12] Wichita State University is renowned for its Aerospace Engineering program and also has the third highest research budget for Aerospace Engineering in the United States.[13][14] In the UK, Aerospace (or aeronautical) engineering can be studied for the B.Eng., M.Eng., MSc. and Ph.D. levels at a number of universities. The top universities include University of Cambridge, University of Surrey, University of Bristol, University of Southampton, University of Sheffield, Newcastle University, University of Bath, and Imperial College London.[15] The Department of Aeronautics at Imperial College London is noted for providing engineers for the Formula One industry,[16] an industry that uses aerospace technology. Aerospace can be studied at University of Limerick in Ireland. In Australia, the RMIT University offers Aerospace (or aeronautical) engineering and has more than 60 years teaching experience in this profession. Monash University, University of New South Wales, University of Sydney, University of Queensland and Queensland University of Technology also offers Aerospace Engineering. European universities with renowned for their teaching and expertise in aerospace engineering include TU Delft in the Netherlands, SUPAERO in France, RWTH Aachen, TU München, the University of Stuttgart, TU Berlin and TU Braunschweig in Germany. In Spain the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid and Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya both offer the course, while in Italy there also several universities where aerospace engineering can be studied including the Politecnico di Milano, the University of Pisa and the Politecnico di Torino. In Eastern Europe they are the University of Belgrade, the Warsaw University of Technology in Poland and University of Technology Brno in Czech Republic. In India IIT Kanpur possesses its own flight test aircraft and airfield for students in the discipline, while the other IITs also offer degrees in this discipline, while in China Nanjing Aeronautics and Astronautics University is a regional leader in the field of aerospace engineering education. In Pakistan Aerospace Engineering can be studied at University of Sciences and Technology, Air University (Pakistan Air Force) and at PAF Academy in Risalpur. [edit] Popular cultureThe term "rocket scientist" is at times used to describe a person of higher than average intelligence. Aerospace engineering has also been represented as the more "glittery" pinnacle of engineering. The movie Apollo 13 depicts the ground team as a group of heroes in a Hollywood fashion glorifying the intelligence and competence of white shirt and tie professionals. This was later extended in more detail in the 1998 HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon. The 2000s TV series "Joey" featured a PhD candidate in Aerospace Engineering. "The Big Bang Theory" the character Wolowitz is an aerospace engineer with a masters from MIT that works in the Caltech Department of Applied Physics, though his projects are more suited to an engineer working at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory or in the case of the toilet on the ISS, an engineer at Johnson Space Center or Marshall Space Flight Center. In the 1960s, the TV series My Three Sons featured a number of aerospace engineers among the fathers. [edit] See also
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