Astronautical Engineering

- Overview

Astronautical engineers study the science and technology of spacecraft and how they behave in and out of Earth's atmosphere. This includes work on small satellites (such as CubeSats) and traditional large satellites. 

Astronautical engineers design, develop and build spacecraft, the same vehicles that astronauts use to travel across the sky and into things that are still unknown in many ways. Spacecraft has come a long way in a relatively short period of time. Thanks to state-of-the-art technology, unmanned vehicles can travel longer distances and stay longer with intelligent navigation systems and remote sensing. These capabilities are largely attributable to the work and technical knowledge that astronautical engineers provide to aerospace systems and the entire field of science and engineering. 

In addition to spacecraft, astronautical engineering experts are often involved in the manufacture or design of satellites, space capsules, planetary probes, missiles, and rockets. These are highly technical mechanical parts that require a skilled understanding of control systems and the core principles of physics, flight and mathematics.

[More to come ...]