Engineered to fly

Abstract

The chapter ‘Engineered to fly’ defines aerospace engineering, highlights the importance of aerospace systems, and surveys the evolution of some common flight systems. Aerospace engineering focuses on designing, fabricating, testing, or operating systems that fly in an atmosphere (aeronautics) or beyond the atmosphere in outer space (astronautics). The importance of aerospace systems is demonstrated by examining the far-reaching impact they have on our daily lives and the significant economic benefits they provide. All sustained flight is achieved by balancing four principal forces: lift, drag, weight, and thrust. The physical principles that produce these forces are identified by examining how select flight vehicle archetypes achieve sustained flight. From kites and balloons to aeroplanes and rockets, the technical evolution of flight systems has also been driven by societal factors, which are discussed for each flight vehicle archetype.