This activity is a hands-on investigation that teaches students that air resitance affects how things move and that pressure from compressed air can move things.

This module focuses on the launch and propulsion of the Genesis spacecraft. Students will become familiar with how rockets are launched, learn how and why specific rockets are chosen for varying payloads, learn about the history of rocketry, and work with variables that might affect the performance of a launch vehicle. They will work in teams to test a single variable involved in launching a rocket and learn the variables involved with constructing and launching a water rocket. Each activity includes a teacher's guide and students handouts. Video and audio clips are provided.

This site presents challenges faced by NASA engineers who are developing the next generation of aerospace vehicles. The challenges: thermal protection systems, spacecraft structures, electrodynamic propulsion systems, propellers, and personal satellite assistants. Students design, build, test, re-design, and re-build models that meet specified design criteria, using the same analytical skills as engineers.

This course covers the development of the fundamental equations of fluid mechanics and their simplifications for several areas of marine hydrodynamics and the application of these principles to the solution of engineering problems. Topics include the principles of conservation of mass, momentum and energy, lift and drag forces, laminar and turbulent flows, dimensional analysis, added mass, and linear surface waves, including wave velocities, propagation phenomena, and descriptions of real sea waves. Wave forces on structures are treated in the context of design and basic seakeeping analysis of ships and offshore platforms. Geophysical fluid dynamics will also be addressed including distributions of salinity, temperature, and density; heat balance in the ocean; major ocean circulations and geostrophic flows; and the influence of wind stress. Experimental projects conducted in ocean engineering laboratories illustrating concepts taught in class, including ship resistance and model testing, lift and drag forces on submerged bodies, and vehicle propulsion.

This course develops the theory and design of hydrofoil sections, including lifting and thickness problems for sub-cavitating sections, unsteady flow problems, and computer-aided design of low drag cavitation-free sections. It also covers lifting line and lifting surface theory with applications to hydrofoil craft, rudder, control surface, propeller and wind turbine rotor design. Other topics include computer-aided design of wake adapted propellers, steady and unsteady propeller thrust and torque; performance analysis and design of wind turbine rotors in steady and stochastic wind; and numerical principles of vortex lattice and lifting surface panel methods. Projects illustrate the development of computational methods for lifting, propeller and wind turbine flows, and use of state-of-the-art simulation methods for lifting, propulsion and wind turbine applications.

In 16.540 we address fluid dynamic phenomena of interest in internal flow situations. The emphasis tends to be on problems that arise in air breathing propulsion, but the application of the concepts covered is more general, and the course is wider in scope, than turbomachines (in spite of the title). Stated more directly, the focus is on the fluid mechanic principles that determine the behavior of a broad class of industrial devices. The material can therefore be characterized, only partly tongue in cheek, as "industrial strength fluid mechanics done in a rigorous manner".

In NASA CONNECT 3,2,1 . . . Crash! NASA engineers make predictions and draw conclusions about aircraft safety by crashing planes, skidding tires, and blasting water. Learn about the history of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and discover how NASA Langley Research Center improves aircraft performance and safety. Grades 5-8.

In NASA CONNECT Rocket to the Stars, students will learn the basic science concepts of work and energy and see how algebra can be used to help explain both concepts. NASA is working on new ways of powering spacecraft that will reduce the travel time to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. Students will be introduced to two cutting edge innovative propulsion technology programs, Prometheus and VASIMR, that will allow crewed and uncrewed vehicles to explore the distant reaches of the solar system. Grades 6-8.

In NASA CONNECT Wired for Space, NASA researchers develop new ways to propel a spacecraft already in orbit without the aid of fuel. Learn how electricity and magnetism are being used to replace fuel-consuming rocket propulsion systems. Grades 5-8.

Offshore Hydromechanics includes the following modules:
1. Hydrostatics, static floating stability, constant 2-D potential flow of ideal fluids, and flows in real fluids. Introduction to resistance and propulsion of ships. Review of linear regular and irregular wave theory.
2. Analytical and numerical means to determine the flow around, forces on, and motions of floating bodies in waves.
3. Higher order potential theory and inclusion of non-linear effects in ship motions. Applications to motion of moored ships and to the determination of workability.
4. Interaction between the sea and sea bottom as well as the hydrodynamic forces and especially survival loads on slender structures.

Fundamentals of satellite engineering design, including distributed satellite. Studies orbital environment. Analyzes problems of station keeping, attitude control, communications, power generation, structural design, thermal balance, and subsystem integration. Considers trade-offs among weight, efficiency, cost, and reliability. Discusses choice of design parameters, such as size, weight, power levels, temperature limits, frequency, and bandwidth. Examples taken from current satellite systems. Satellite Engineering introduces students to subsystem design in engineering spacecraft. The course presents characteristic subsystems, such as power, structure, communication and control, and analyzes the engineering trades necessary to integrate subsystems successfully into a satellite. Discussions of spacecraft operating environment and orbital mechanics help students to understand the functional requirements and key design parameters for satellite systems.

Space Systems Engineering (16.83X) is the astronautical capstone course option in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Between Spring 2002 and Spring 2003, the course was offered in a 3-semester format, using a Conceive, Design, Implement and Operate (C-D-I-O) teaching model. 16.83X is shorthand for the three course numbers: 16.83, 16.831, and 16.832. The first semester (16.83) is the Conceive-Design phase of the project, which results in a detailed system design, but precedes assembly. The second semester (16.831) is the Implement phase, and involves building the students' system. The final semester (16.832) is the Operate phase, in which the system is tested and readied to perform in its intended environment.

This course is taught in four main parts. The first is a review of fundamental thermodynamic concepts (e.g. energy exchange in propulsion and power processes), and is followed by the second law (e.g. reversibility and irreversibility, lost work). Next are applications of thermodynamics to engineering systems (e.g. propulsion and power cycles, thermo chemistry), and the course concludes with fundamentals of heat transfer (e.g. heat exchange in aerospace devices)

The basic objective of Unified is to give a solid understanding of the fundamental disciplines of aerospace engineering, as well as their interrelationships and applications. These disciplines are Materials and Structures (M); Computers and Programming (C); Fluid Mechanics (F); Thermodynamics and Propulsion (T); and Signals and Systems (S). In choosing to teach these subjects in a unified manner, we seek to explain the common intellectual threads in these disciplines, as well as their combined application to solve engineering Systems Problems (SP). Throughout the year we will endeavor to point out the connections among the disciplines.