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What do airplanes, helicopters, ships, and submarines have in common? If you guessed they’re all forms of transportation, you’d be right.
But all these things are also rigid objects that move through fluids, which is the focus of aerospace and marine engineering. (In engineering, a fluid can be a gas or a liquid.) Aerospace engineers work to answer questions such as, What’s the best shape for a plane? How much fuel will it need to reach its destination? How do we design for a zero-gravity environment? Marine engineers — you guessed it — work with travel on and in water.
▲ In 1903, Orville Wright took off in the first successful flight of a self-propelled aircraft. Before that day, the Wright brothers had to answer three questions: How should the airplane wings be constructed? What kind of engine did the aircraft need? How could the plane be balanced and steered? The brothers got their answers from studying the work of those who came before them, and from years of modeling, testing, and improving their own ideas.
▲ In 1933, the first modern commercial airplane was produced. The plane’s propellers sent streams of air over the wings, and that moved the plane forward. The passengers in propeller planes had to put up with a lot of noise and vibration.
▲ To reduce noise and vibration, engineers developed the jet engine. In a jet plane, fans suck air into the engine, where it mixes with fuel. The fuel burns, and hot gases are forced out the back of the engine. It’s like a balloon that flies forward when air is let out the back. The hot air forced out the back of a jet engine causes the plane to move forward.
▲ Solar panels can be used to heat homes. Can they be used to power airplanes? Engineer André Borschberg asked and answered that question. With other engineers, he spent years testing and refining his solar-powered plane. In 2016, Solar Impulse 2 made a 26,000-mile trip around the world, using no fuel whatsoever.
Think Piece!
Think about ways that an airplane and a car are alike. Why might aerospace engineers be involved in the design of both vehicles?
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▲ For centuries, marine engineers and others have developed ways to explore the ocean, from diving suits to submarines. They’ve had to answer a lot of questions. For example, how can we maintain safe oxygen levels? Deep in the ocean, atmospheric pressure is much greater than on land. How can we keep people safe that far down? Some of the answers have helped engineers create better diving suits. These suits have breathing systems that last up to 48 hours and keep divers safe down to 1,000 feet. Other answers have led to nuclear-powered submarines that can go for 30 years without refueling. (The only limitation is the crew’s food supply.)
Kids Discover talked with aerospace engineer Bridget Berry.
KD: What kinds of projects do you work on?
Berry: I’m on a team of engineers who design, build, and manage the monitoring of satellites after launch. One of my projects is a satellite that transmits information about location, timing, and position.
KD: What is the first thing you do when you start a new project?
Berry: I ask a lot of questions so I clearly understand the goal and the restrictions I have to work within.
KD: Can you share an anecdote about something unusual that happened during a flight
Berry: I remember once when we figured out a new way to use a satellite with broken parts to keep it from becoming space junk and also extend its life.
KD: What is something most people probably don’t know about your work?
Berry: Since we can’t visit a spacecraft once it’s launched, we’ve designed graphs to help us understand how it’s performing. During a complicated maneuver, all the engineers are staring at their computer screens to keep tabs on the satellite. It probably looks boring, but we’re all sitting on the edges of our seats, watching the data to make sure there aren’t any problems.
