Aerospace Engineering

Abstract

Aerospace Engineering: A Very Short Introduction offers an overview of the concepts underlying the design and operation of aircraft and spacecraft. Beginning with a discussion of how aerospace systems are essential to our daily lives, aerospace engineering is defined and placed within the context of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). Exploring the evolution of select flight vehicle archetypes lays the foundation for later, more technical discussions. As the performance of aerospace systems is closely linked to their environment, an examination of Earth’s atmosphere and the environment of space is presented. Attention then turns to aeronautics, the subdiscipline of aerospace engineering focusing on systems capable of atmospheric flight. Among the topics discussed are aerodynamics, aircraft structures and materials, aircraft propulsion, flight mechanics, and stability and control. This is followed by a discussion of astronautics, a subdiscipline of aerospace engineering that focuses on launch vehicles and spacecraft. Topics discussed here include rockets and spacecraft structures, rocket propulsion, communications, attitude determination and control, and orbital mechanics. Understanding the processes used to design aerospace systems is crucial for fully appreciating the field of aerospace engineering. Thus, elements of engineering design and another engineering discipline, systems engineering, are examined. This brief introduction concludes by highlighting some of the technologies and trends now influencing aerospace engineering. A basic understanding of aerospace engineering is valuable to those who want to become aerospace engineers and to those who seek an understanding of the flight systems that are critical to our modern way of life.