| Aerospace Engineering Overview |
Aerospace Engineering
Aerospace engineering is the branch of
engineering behind the design, construction and science of
aircraft and
spacecraft. Aerospace engineering has broken into two major
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" was the original term,
the broader "aerospace" has superseded it in usage, as flight
technology advanced to include craft operating in
outer space.
Aerospace engineering is often informally called
rocket science.
Overview
Modern flight vehicles undergo severe conditions such as differences in atmospheric pressure and temperature, or heavy structural load 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.,
The development and manufacturing of a flight vehicle demands careful balance
and compromise between abilities, performance, available technology and costs.
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