Aerospace engineering

Lift, the Kutta-Joukowski theorem, stalling, and the Brayton cycle

What is aerospace engineering?

Aerospace engineering is the branch of engineering concerned with designing aircraft and spacecraft — everything involved in getting a vehicle to fly through the atmosphere or, together with the space science covered in the Astronomy section, beyond it entirely.

How wings generate lift

An airplane wing is shaped (an airfoil) so that air flowing over and under it produces a net upward force called lift, generally through a combination of the wing's curved shape and the angle at which it meets the oncoming air (its angle of attack). This lift must balance the aircraft's weight for it to fly, following the same force-balance principles covered in the Mechanics article.

Controlling an aircraft

An aircraft is controlled in flight using movable control surfaces: ailerons (on the wings, controlling roll, or banking side to side), an elevator (on the tail, controlling pitch, or the nose tilting up and down), and a rudder (on the tail fin, controlling yaw, or the nose swinging left and right). Combining these three basic controls lets a pilot maneuver an aircraft precisely in three-dimensional space.

Jet engines

Most large modern aircraft are powered by jet engines, which draw in air, compress it, mix it with fuel and ignite it, then expel the resulting hot, high-speed exhaust gases out the back — generating forward thrust the same way a rocket does (Newton's third law, from the Mechanics article), but continuously drawing in fresh air from the atmosphere rather than carrying its own oxidizer, the way a rocket must.

Why aerospace engineering matters

Aerospace engineering has made modern air travel possible, connecting people and goods across the globe in hours rather than weeks, and its principles extend directly into spacecraft design, satellite technology, and the broader space exploration efforts covered in the Space Science article.