飞行器承受大气压力和温度变化等苛刻条件的影响,结构载荷作用在飞行器部件上。因此,它们通常是各种技术和工程学科结合的产品,包括空气动力学、推进技术、航空电子、材料科学、结构分析和制造。这些技术之间的相互作用被称为航空航天工程。由于所涉及学科的复杂性和数量,航空航天工程是由工程师团队进行的,每个工程师团队都有自己的专攻的领域。[4]
航空航天工程的起源可以追溯到19世纪末20世纪初的航空先驱,尽管乔治·凯莱爵士的工作可以追溯到18世纪最后十年到19世纪中期。凯莱是航空史上最重要的人物之一,[5]他是航空工程的先驱,[6] 被认为是第一个分离升力和阻力的人,该方法对任何飞行器都有效。[7]
航空工程的早期知识主要是经验性的,有些概念和技巧是从工程学的其他分支引进的。[8] 在18世纪,科学家们理解了航空航天工程的一些关键要素,如流体动力学。莱特兄弟成功飞行多年后, 20世纪10年代,可以在第一次世界大战军用飞机的设计过程中看到航空工程的发展。在第一次和第二次世界大战之间,航空工程取得了巨大的飞跃。主流民用航空的出现大大加快了这一进程。这个时代著名的飞机包括柯蒂斯JN 4、法尔曼F.60戈利亚和福克三驾马车。这一时期著名的军用飞机分别是来自日本、英国和德国的三菱A6M Zero、Supermarine Spitfire和Messerschmitt Bf 109。航空航天工程的一个重大发展伴随着第一架可操作的喷气发动机驱动飞机梅塞尔施米特Me 262,于1944年第二次世界大战末期投入使用。
航空航天工程的第一个定义出现在1958年2月。[2] 该定义将地球大气层和外层空间视为单一领域,因此在一个新造的词“航空航天”下既包括航空器(航空)也包括航天器(空间)。作为对苏联于1957年10月4日发射第一颗卫星人造卫星的回应,美国航天工程师于1958年1月31日发射了第一颗美国卫星。作为冷战的回应,美国于1958年成立国家航空航天局。1969年,阿波罗11号首次载人登月。它见证三名宇航员进入环绕月球的轨道,其中两名宇航员,尼尔·阿姆斯特朗和巴兹·奥德林,登陆月球表面。第三名宇航员迈克尔·柯林斯留在轨道上在阿姆斯特朗和奥尔德林登陆月球表面后与他们会合。 [9]
大多数这些要素的基础是理论物理,如空气动力学的流体动力学和飞行动力学的运动方程。这其中还包含了很大的经验成分。在过去的历史中,经验成分来源于风洞或自由大气中的比例模型和原型机的测试。最近,计算技术的进步使得计算流体动力学能够模拟流体的行为,减少了风洞试验的时间和费用。流体力学或流体声学的研究人员通常具有航空航天工程学位的背景。
此外,航空航天工程还涉及构成航空航天飞行器的所有组件的集成(子系统包括电力,航空轴承,通信,热控制,生命维持等子系统)及其生命周期(设计,温度,压力,辐射,速度,寿命)的集成。
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^NASA (2008). Steven J. Dick, ed. Remembering the Space Age: Proceedings of the 50th Anniversary Conference (PDF). p. 92. The term “rocket scientist” is a misnomer used by the media and in popular culture and applied to a majority of engineers and technicians who worked on the development of rockets with von Braun. It reflects a cultural evaluation of the immense accomplishments of the team but is nevertheless incorrect. ....
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^"Sir George Cayley (British Inventor and Scientist)". Britannica. n.d. Retrieved 2009-07-26. English pioneer of aerial navigation and aeronautical engineering and designer of the first successful glider to carry a human being aloft..
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^Bailey, Charlotte (7 November 2008). "Oxford compiles list of top ten irritating phrases". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2008-11-18. 10 - It's not rocket science.
^Petroski, Henry (23 November 2010). "Engineering Is Not Science". IEEE Spectrum. Retrieved 21 June 2015. Science is about understanding the origins, nature, and behavior of the universe and all it contains; engineering is about solving problems by rearranging the stuff of the world to make new things..
^Neufeld, Michael. Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War (First ed.). Vintage Books. pp. xv. There has been a deep-rooted failure in the English-speaking media and popular culture to grapple with the distinction between science and engineering..
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