What is Aerospace Engineering?
With 8100 satellites, and nearly 25,000 aircraft flying around the world
you know the role of an aerospace engineer is something quite special.
So at the core an aerospace engineer would design something to fly
we're talking aircraft, spacecraft, satellites, missiles yeah that kind of stuff.
Now how it intends on flying is where it gets interesting.
I mean it's a craft going to use jet engines or propellers?
what's about the fuel are we going for the classic kerosene or thinking solar panels and batteries?
What about the passengers how many?
Is it over five hundred, or are we just flying for one that's specialised in air-to-air combat?
And the range of the craft
are we traveling over a hundred million miles or is it just over the bridge to get those breathtaking drone shots?
These are the questions that engineers need to answer before any component is designed.
Let's take the Concorde for example,
now for those of you who don't know it was the fastest commercial plane to take the skies
reducing the London to New York flight duration to just three hours
it was at the very edge of engineering some would even say it was the Bugatti Veyron of the skies.
but how can engineer's just casually reduce the flight time by over half?
Well, they're going to have to go all-out designing from the ground up.
First let's take the wings, the design concept for them were taken from fighter jets,
add the fuselage and another 5,000 hours of wind tunnel testing and you have just the shape of the Concorde.
But wait that shape is for Mach 2 speeds when flying what about takeoff and landing
not only of the drag coefficient completely different here but the pilot actually needs to see the runway
so what did the Aerospace Engineers do?
they gave its nose that could move up and down
it was simply incredible, cutting-edge technology.
so why was it retired simply put, there wasn't enough demand for it.
Passengers didn't want to fly with it anymore, there was pressure from all angles to stop the service.
But what does this have to do with an Aerospace Engineer, they just design and build right?
Yes they do, but they have to know who and what the craft is for.
You see following the horrific accident with the Concorde in July 2000,
the events from the 9/11 and the deafening sonic booms,
what passengers really wanted the most was safety, economy and looking after the environment.
So yeah getting there fast is important, but so is making sure what you build is needed,
and really this is what aerospace engineers do.
They consistently evaluate and assess the requirements, looking holistically at the design who it's for and specifically why.
Take military aerospace engineering for example, here the requirements are completely different,
the importance for the environment and cost isn't high on the list, but the quality and safety of the pilots in the plane is crucial.
The craft is engineered completely differently.
I mean it can get from NYC to LA in 40 minutes but who wants to arrive at LA after exerting nearly nine G's with no luggage,
it's not really suited for that.
So how exactly do they think about all of this well for them it's about solving one problem at a time.
For example one of the biggest issues with space travel is galactic cosmic rays,
basically ionizing radiation when traveling in space.
Now on earth we are protected by our atmosphere, but in space there's very little but the spacecraft protecting you from this radiation.
So, it's thinking about new materials that could be used that isn't heavy and inefficient like lead.
The next problem power and fuel we've all seen Apollo 13.
Back down to earth, Amazon wants to take their prime services up a notch and drop off your parcels with drones.
Sure they have years left of testing but what problems are they solving?
Think about the integration with commercial airspace or even the public.
What will the public think about drones flying everywhere?
Would you be happy with one hovering outside your bedroom at 7a.m. in the morning?
Depends if it's your parcel I guess!
But it doesn't always have to be about implementing extraordinary feats of Engineering,
one firm decided to replace their pilots paper manuals which consisted of logs, maps, safety manuals and replaced it with an iPad
Savings $1.2 million dollars in gas costs alone not to mention the safety improvements
What about the 25,000 aircraft that circle the globe every day who's looking after them?
What about the maintenance?
I mean Elon Musk and the other visionaries want to reuse spacecraft,
do you think they'll let that rocket go back into space with just a new tank of fuel?
Again, this is where Aerospace Engineers work their magic.
But wait, you're probably thinking why haven't I mention the electric plane? Shouldn't this be the way forward?
Well yes, you're right but that's the beauty of STEM,
they all rely on one another, the electric plane is waiting on much better batteries,
and as for flying cars let's master electric cars on the road first!
There is so much to do, so why not get involved?
I want to be able to get my parcel from Amazon in the morning without being woken up!
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