This part of the course Introduction to Aerospace Engineering is focused on two aerospace disciplines: “space and orbital mechanics” and “structures and materials”. These topics are discussed in detail and will provide an understanding for both aircraft and for spacecraft/space missions.
Together with the course “Introduction to Aerospace Engineering I” (AE1110-I) this course is strongly related to the Project “Exploring Aerospace Engineering” (AE1111-I) which is running parallel in the first semester.
- List/describe the reasons for going into space and the principles of rockets, including their trajectories.
- Motivate the selection of spacecraft configurations depending on the mission and identify the main elements of a satellite.
- Describe the features of the space environment and their consequences for space activities.
- Determine elementary satellite orbits, transfer orbits and maneuvers
- Describe and work with elementary space propulsion aspects: launch, velocity budget and rocket equation
- List the characteristics of typical aerospace materials & structures and describe their meaning and relevance
- List the main structural elements of an aerospace vehicle and describe their functions and performance.
Introduction to Aerospace Engineering II by TU Delft OpenCourseWare is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at https://ocw.tudelft.nl/courses/introduction-aerospace-engineering-ii/.