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Aerospace Engineering

BAeroEng - 4 years, Clayton campus
Double degrees with: Arts, Commerce, Law, Science

What is aerospace engineering?

As the name suggests, it is all about flight. It’s the idea, design, development and production of vehicles that will fly within the atmosphere and beyond. Aerospace engineering also includes materials and advanced composites and the computer simulation of entire structural components.

Aerospace engineers focus on:

  • What makes a craft move;
  • What holds it together;
  • What keeps it in the air;
  • How fast and how high will it go;
  • What keeps it on course.

They study:

  • Basics of propulsion and the application of gas dynamics to internal flows;
  • Principles of mechanics and analysis techniques to ensure a craft’s structural integrity;
  • Fluid motion around a body moving through the atmosphere at speeds ranging from subsonic to hypersonic;
  • Techniques for aerospace vehicle guidance, and the analysis of flight trajectories, orbits and dynamic motion.
Course overview

Flight vehicles designed by aerospace engineers:

  • The space shuttle
  • Spacecraft for exploring our solar system and universe
  • New fuel-efficient commercial transports
  • Modern fighter aircraft, bombers, and missiles for the military services
  • Vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft
  • Short take-off and landing (STOL) aircraft.

What do aerospace engineers do?

Apart from designing and building flight vehicles, aerospace engineers use wind tunnels to test and establish performance levels and strength and vibration components. They also design and develop guidance and control systems for planes, missiles and spacecraft.

Aerospace engineers test and evaluate the tensile strength, material density and rigidity of materials, conventional or composite, used in aerospace.

Applying theories, concepts and equations, they conduct in-flight testing that involves planning a flight-test, conducting a flight-test program, reviewing results, analysing test data, and preparing reports.

They also solve complex fluid dynamics computations using high-speed computers – mathematical modelling of flow in and around an object can save large amounts of time and money and alleviate risk.

Careers in aerospace engineering

Aerospace engineering reaches beyond traditional aerospace applications into areas such as automobiles, energy production and conservation, lightweight materials and new manufacturing techniques.

As a result, career opportunities are found throughout the traditional aerospace and defence industries and in a wide range of related industries, such as automotive engineering and manufacturing, where leading-edge aerospace technologies are increasingly being used.

The aerospace facilities and support industry is another emerging employer. Graduates can join a large aerospace company, a general manufacturer that specialises in contracting to the aerospace industry, an airline or a government aerospace laboratory or research centre. Job opportunities also exist in design and manufacture, operations, research and development and in the broader mechanical engineering sector.

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