Aerospace engineering

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Aerospace Engineer
Apollo 13 Mailbox at Mission Control.jpg
Names Aerospace Engineer
Occupation type
Activity sectors
Aeronautics, Astronautics, Science
Competencies Technical knowledge, Management skills
Education required
Bachelor's Degree[1][2]

Aerospace Engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft.[3] It is divided into two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering.

Aeronautical Engineering was the original term for the field but as flight technology advanced to include craft operating in outer space, the broader term "aerospace engineering" has largely replaced it in common usage.[4] Aerospace engineering, particularly the astronautics branch, is often referred to as "rocket science".[citation needed]



The development and manufacturing of a modern flight vehicle is an extremely complex process and demands careful balance and compromise between abilities, design, available technology, and costs. Aerospace engineers design, test, and supervise the manufacture of aircraft, spacecraft, and missiles. Aerospace engineers develop new technologies for use in aviation, defense systems, and space.



The origin of aerospace engineering can be traced back to the aviation pioneers around the late 19th to early 20th centuries, although the work of Sir George Cayley dates from the last decade of the 18th to mid-19th century. One of the most important people in the history of aeronautics,[6] Cayley was a pioneer in aeronautical engineering[7] and is credited as the first person to separate the forces of lift and drag, which are in effect on any flight vehicle.[8] Early knowledge of aeronautical engineering was largely empirical with some concepts and skills imported from other branches of engineering.[9] Scientists understood some key elements of aerospace engineering, like fluid dynamics, in the 18th century. Many years later 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.




Some of the elements of aerospace engineering are:[11][12]

  • Electrotechnology – the study of electronics within engineering.



Degree programs[edit]

Aerospace engineering may 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. Some institutions differentiate between aeronautical and astronautical engineering.

A background in chemistry, physics, and mathematics is important for students pursuing an aerospace engineering degree.[14]

In popular culture[edit]

The term "rocket scientist" is sometimes used to describe a person of great intelligence since "rocket science" is seen as a practice requiring great mental ability, especially technical and mathematical ability. The term is used ironically in the expression "It's not rocket science" to indicate that a task is simple.[15] Strictly speaking, the use of the word "science" in "rocket science" is a misnomer since science is about understanding the origins, nature, and behavior of the universe; engineering is about using scientific and engineering principles to solve problems and develop new technology.[16][17] However, the media and the public often use "science" and "engineering" as synonyms.[16][17][18]

See also[edit]


  1. ^ "Required Education". Retrieved 2015-06-22. 
  2. ^ "Education, Aerospace Engineers". Retrieved 2015-06-22. 
  5. ^ "Career: Aerospace Engineer". Career Profiles. The Princeton Review. Retrieved 2006-10-08. Due to the complexity of the final product, an intricate and rigid organizational structure for production has to be maintained, severely curtailing any single engineer's ability to understand his role as it relates to the final project. 
  6. ^ "Sir George Cayley". ?. Retrieved 2009-07-26. Sir George Cayley is one of the most important people in the history of aeronautics. Many consider him the first true scientific aerial investigator and the first person to understand the underlying principles and forces of flight. 
  7. ^ "Sir George Cayley (British Inventor and Scientist)". Britannica. n.d. Retrieved 2009-07-26. English pioneer of aerial navigation and aeronautical engineering and designer of the first successful glider to carry a human being aloft. 
  13. ^ "Aircraft Structures in Aerospace Engineering". Aerospace Engineering, Aviation News, Salary, Jobs and Museums. Retrieved 2015-11-06. 
  14. ^ "Entry education, Aerospace Engineers". Retrieved 2015-06-22. 
  15. ^ Bailey, Charlotte (7 November 2008). "Oxford compiles list of top ten irritating phrases". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2008-11-18. 10 - It's not rocket science 
  16. ^ a b NASA (2008). Steven J. Dick, ed. Remembering the Space Age: Proceedings of the 50th Anniversary Conference (PDF). p. 92. The term “rocket scientist” is a misnomer used by the media and in popular culture and applied to a majority of engineers and technicians who worked on the development of rockets with von Braun. 
  17. ^ a b Petroski, Henry (23 November 2010). "Engineering Is Not Science". IEEE Spectrum. Retrieved 21 June 2015. Science is about understanding the origins, nature, and behavior of the universe and all it contains; engineering is about solving problems by rearranging the stuff of the world to make new things. 
  18. ^ Neufeld, Michael. Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War (First ed.). Vintage Books. pp. xv. There has been a deep-rooted failure in the English-speaking media and popular culture to grapple with the distinction between science and engineering. 

External links[edit]