Glossary of aerospace engineering
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This glossary of aerospace engineering terms pertains specifically to aerospace engineering and its sub-disciplines. For a broad overview of engineering, see glossary of engineering.
A[edit]
- Above ground level — In aviation, atmospheric sciences and broadcasting, a height above ground level (AGL[1]) is a height measured with respect to the underlying ground surface. This is as opposed to altitude/elevation above mean sea level (AMSL), or (in broadcast engineering) height above average terrain (HAAT). In other words, these expressions (AGL, AMSL, HAAT) indicate where the "zero level" or "reference altitude" is located.
- Absolute humidity — describes the water content of air and is expressed in either grams per cubic meter[2] or grams per kilogram[3].
- Absolute value — In mathematics, the absolute value or modulus |x| of a real number x is the non-negative value of x without regard to its sign. Namely, |x| = x for a positive x, |x| = −x for a negative x (in which case −x is positive), and |0| = 0. For example, the absolute value of 3 is 3, and the absolute value of −3 is also 3. The absolute value of a number may be thought of as its distance from zero.
- Acceleration — In physics, acceleration is the rate of change of velocity of an object with respect to time. An object's acceleration is the net result of any and all forces acting on the object, as described by Newton's Second Law.[4] The SI unit for acceleration is metre per second squared (m s−2). Accelerations are vector quantities (they have magnitude and direction) and add according to the parallelogram law.[5][6] As a vector, the calculated net force is equal to the product of the object's mass (a scalar quantity) and its acceleration.
- Acquisition of signal — A pass, in spaceflight and satellite communications, is the period in which a satellite or other spacecraft is above the local horizon and available for radio communication with a particular ground station, satellite receiver, or relay satellite (or, in some cases, for visual sighting). The beginning of a pass is termed acquisition of signal; the end of a pass is termed loss of signal.[7] The point at which a spacecraft comes closest to a ground observer is the time of closest approach.[7]
- Action — In physics, action is an attribute of the dynamics of a physical system from which the equations of motion of the system can be derived. It is a mathematical functional which takes the trajectory, also called path or history, of the system as its argument and has a real number as its result. Generally, the action takes different values for different paths.[8] Action has the dimensions of [energy]⋅[time] or [momentum]⋅[length], and its SI unit is joule-second.
- ADF —Automatic direction finder
- Advanced Space Vision System — The Advanced Space Vision System (also known as the Space Vision System or by its acronym SVS) is a computer vision system designed primarily for International Space Station (ISS) assembly.[9] The system uses regular 2D cameras in the Space Shuttle bay, on the Canadarm, or on the ISS along with cooperative targets to calculate the 3D position of an object.[9]
- Aeroacoustics — Is a branch of acoustics that studies noise generation via either turbulent fluid motion or aerodynamic forces interacting with surfaces. Noise generation can also be associated with periodically varying flows. A notable example of this phenomenon is the Aeolian tones produced by wind blowing over fixed objects.
- Aerobraking — is a spaceflight maneuver that reduces the high point of an elliptical orbit (apoapsis) by flying the vehicle through the atmosphere at the low point of the orbit (periapsis). The resulting drag slows the spacecraft. Aerobraking is used when a spacecraft requires a low orbit after arriving at a body with an atmosphere, and it requires less fuel than does the direct use of a rocket engine.
- Aerocapture — is an orbital transfer maneuver used to reduce the velocity of a spacecraft from a hyperbolic trajectory to an elliptical orbit around the targeted celestial body.
- Aerodynamics — is the study of the motion of air, particularly its interaction with a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It is a sub-field of fluid dynamics and gas dynamics, and many aspects of aerodynamics theory are common to these fields.
- Aeroelasticity — is the branch of physics and engineering that studies the interactions between the inertial, elastic, and aerodynamic forces that occur when an elastic body is exposed to a fluid flow. Although historical studies have been focused on aeronautical applications, recent research has found applications in fields such as energy harvesting[10] and understanding snoring.[11] The study of aeroelasticity may be broadly classified into two fields: static aeroelasticity, which deals with the static or steady response of an elastic body to a fluid flow; and dynamic aeroelasticity, which deals with the body's dynamic (typically vibrational) response. Aeroelasticity draws on the study of fluid mechanics, solid mechanics, structural dynamics and dynamical systems. The synthesis of aeroelasticity with thermodynamics is known as aerothermoelasticity, and its synthesis with control theory is known as aeroservoelasticity.
- Aeronautics — Is the science or art involved with the study, design, and manufacturing of air flight capable machines, and the techniques of operating aircraft and rockets within the atmosphere.
- Aerospace architecture — is broadly defined to encompass architectural design of non-habitable and habitable structures and living and working environments in aerospace-related facilities, habitats, and vehicles. These environments include, but are not limited to: science platform aircraft and aircraft-deployable systems; space vehicles, space stations, habitats and lunar and planetary surface construction bases; and Earth-based control, experiment, launch, logistics, payload, simulation and test facilities. Earth analogs to space applications may include Antarctic, desert, high altitude, underground, undersea environments and closed ecological systems.
- Aerospace bearing — Aerospace bearings are the bearings installed in aircraft and aerospace systems including commercial, private, military, or space applications.
- Aerospace engineering — is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft.[12] It has two major and overlapping branches: Aeronautical engineering and Astronautical Engineering. Avionics engineering is similar, but deals with the electronics side of aerospace engineering.
- Aerospace materials — are materials, frequently metal alloys, that have either been developed for, or have come to prominence through, their use for aerospace purposes. These uses often require exceptional performance, strength or heat resistance, even at the cost of considerable expense in their production or machining. Others are chosen for their long-term reliability in this safety-conscious field, particularly for their resistance to fatigue.
- Aerospike engine —
- Aerostat —
- Aerostructure —
- Aft-crossing trajectory —
- AGL — Above ground level
- Aileron —
- Air-augmented rocket —
- Aircraft — is a machine that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil,[13] or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines. Common examples of aircraft include airplanes, helicopters, airships (including blimps), gliders, and hot air balloons.[14]
- Aircraft flight control systems —
- Aircraft flight mechanics —
- Airfoil —
- Airlock —
- Airship — An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power.[15] Aerostats gain their lift from large gas bags filled with a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air.
- Albedo —
- Alcubierre drive —
- Anemometer —
- Angle of attack — In fluid dynamics, angle of attack (AOA, or ) is the angle between a reference line on a body (often the chord line of an airfoil) and the vector representing the relative motion between the body and the fluid through which it is moving.[16] Angle of attack is the angle between the body's reference line and the oncoming flow.
- Angular momentum —
- Angular velocity —
- Anticyclone —
- Antimatter rocket —
- Apsis — is an extreme point in the orbit of an object. The word comes via Latin from Greek and is cognate with apse.[17] For elliptic orbits about a larger body, there are two apsides, named with the prefixes peri- (from περί (peri), meaning 'near') and ap-/apo- (from ἀπ(ό) (ap(ó)), meaning 'away from') added to a reference to the body being orbited.
- Arcjet rocket —
- Areal velocity —
- Argument of periapsis —
- ARP4761 —
- Automatic direction finder —
- Aspect ratio (aeronautics) — In aeronautics, the aspect ratio of a wing is the ratio of its span to its mean chord. It is equal to the square of the wingspan divided by the wing area. Thus, a long, narrow wing has a high aspect ratio, whereas a short, wide wing has a low aspect ratio.[18] Aspect ratio and other features of the planform are often used to predict the aerodynamic efficiency of a wing because the lift-to-drag ratio increases with aspect ratio, improving fuel economy in aircraft.
- Asteroid —
- Astrodynamics —
- Atmospheric entry —
- Attitude control —
- Avionics —
- Axial stress —
B[edit]
- Balloon —
- Ballute —
- Beam-powered propulsion — also known as directed energy propulsion, is a class of aircraft or spacecraft propulsion that uses energy beamed to the spacecraft from a remote power plant to provide energy. The beam is typically either a microwave or a laser beam and it is either pulsed or continuous. A continuous beam lends itself to thermal rockets, photonic thrusters and light sails, whereas a pulsed beam lends itself to ablative thrusters and pulse detonation engines.[19]
- Bearing —
- Bernoulli's principle — In fluid dynamics, Bernoulli's principle states that an increase in the speed of a fluid occurs simultaneously with a decrease in pressure or a decrease in the fluid's potential energy.[20](Ch.3)[21](§ 3.5)
- Bi-elliptic transfer —
- Big dumb booster —
- Bipropellant rocket —
- Bleed air —
- Booster rocket —
- Boundary layer —
- Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Program —
- Buoyancy — In physics, buoyancy or upthrust, is an upward force exerted by a fluid that opposes the weight of an immersed object. In a column of fluid, pressure increases with depth as a result of the weight of the overlying fluid. Thus the pressure at the bottom of a column of fluid is greater than at the top of the column. Similarly, the pressure at the bottom of an object submerged in a fluid is greater than at the top of the object. This pressure difference results in a net upwards force on the object. The magnitude of that force exerted is proportional to that pressure difference, and (as explained by Archimedes' principle) is equivalent to the weight of the fluid that would otherwise occupy the volume of the object, i.e. the displaced fluid.
- Bussard ramjet —
C[edit]
- Cabin pressurization — is a process in which conditioned air is pumped into the cabin of an aircraft or spacecraft, in order to create a safe and comfortable environment for passengers and crew flying at high altitudes. For aircraft, this air is usually bled off from the gas turbine engines at the compressor stage, and for spacecraft, it is carried in high-pressure, often cryogenic tanks. The air is cooled, humidified, and mixed with recirculated air if necessary, before it is distributed to the cabin by one or more environmental control systems.[22] The cabin pressure is regulated by the outflow valve.
- Cable lacing —
- Canard —
- Centennial challenges —
- Center of gravity —
- Center of mass —
- Center of pressure —
- Chord —
- Clean configuration —
- Cockpit —
- Collimated light —
- Comet —
- Compression —
- Compressibility —
- Computational fluid dynamics —
- Computing —
- Constant speed drive —
- Control engineering —
- Conservation of momentum —
- Controllability —
- Crew Exploration Vehicle —
- Critical mach — In aerodynamics, the critical Mach number (Mcr or M* ) of an aircraft is the lowest Mach number at which the airflow over some point of the aircraft reaches the speed of sound, but does not exceed it.[23] At the lower critical Mach number, airflow around the entire aircraft is subsonic. At the upper critical Mach number, airflow around the entire aircraft is supersonic.[24]
- Centrifugal compressor —
- Constant speed drive —
- Corrected flow —
- Corrected speed —
D[edit]
- Damage tolerance —
- Decalage —
- De Laval nozzle —
- Dead reckoning —
- Deflection —
- Deformation (engineering) —
- Deformation (mechanics) —
- Delta-v —
- Delta-v budget —
- Delta wing—
- Density —
- Departure resistance –
- Derivative —
- Digital Datcom —
- Dihedral —
- Disk loading —
- Displacement (vector) —
- Distance measuring equipment —
- DME — distance measuring equipment.
- DO-178B —
- DO-254 —
- Drag (physics) —
- Drag coefficient — In fluid dynamics, the drag coefficient (commonly denoted as: , or ) is a dimensionless quantity that is used to quantify the drag or resistance of an object in a fluid environment, such as air or water. It is used in the drag equation in which a lower drag coefficient indicates the object will have less aerodynamic or hydrodynamic drag. The drag coefficient is always associated with a particular surface area.[25]
- Drag equation —
- Drop test —
- Dual mode propulsion rocket —
- Ductility —
E[edit]
- Earth's atmosphere —
- Eccentric anomaly —
- Eccentricity vector —
- Eigenvector slew —
- Electrostatic ion thruster —
- Elevator —
- Elliptic partial differential equation —
- Empennage —
- Energy —
- Engineering —
- Engineering economics —
- Enstrophy —
- Equation of motion —
- ESA — European Space Agency
- Euler angles —
- European Space Agency —
- Expander cycle (rocket) —
F[edit]
- Fatigue —
- Field emission electric propulsion —
- Fixed-wing aircraft —
- Flange —
- Flap —
- Flight control surfaces —
- Flight control system (aircraft) —
- Flight control system (helicopter) —
- Flight dynamics —
- Flight management system —
- Floatstick —
- Fluid —
- Fluid dynamics —
- Fluid mechanics —
- Fluid statics —
- FMS — Flight management system.
- Force —
- Freefall —
- Fuselage —
- Future Air Navigation System —
- Flying wing —
G[edit]
- Galaxy —
- Gas-generator cycle (rocket) —
- Geostationary orbit —
- Geosynchronous orbit—
- Glide ratio —
- Glider —
- Global Positioning System —
- Goddard problem —
- GPS — Global Positioning System.
- Gravitational constant —
- Gravitational slingshot —
- Gravity —
H[edit]
- Hall effect thruster —
- Heat shield —
- Helicopter —
- High-hypersonic —
- Hohmann transfer orbit —
- Hybrid rocket —
- Hydrodynamics —
- Hydrostatics —
- Hyperbolic partial differential equation —
- Hypersonic —
- Hypoxia —
- HyShot —
I[edit]
- Impulse —
- Indicated airspeed —
- Instrument landing system —
- Integral —
- Internal combustion —
- Interplanetary Transport Network —
- Interplanetary travel —
- Interstellar travel —
- Ion thruster —
- ISRO —
J[edit]
K[edit]
- Keel effect —
- Kepler's laws of planetary motion —
- Kessler syndrome —
- Kestrel rocket engine —
- Kinetic energy —
- Kite —
- Kutta condition —
- Kutta–Joukowski theorem —
L[edit]
- Landing —
- Landing gear —
- Lagrangian —
- Lagrangian point —
- Laser broom —
- Laser Camera System —
- Latus rectum —
- Launch window —
- Law of universal gravitation —
- Leading edge —
- Lift —
- Lift coefficient — is a dimensionless coefficient that relates the lift generated by a lifting body to the fluid density around the body, the fluid velocity and an associated reference area. A lifting body is a foil or a complete foil-bearing body such as a fixed-wing aircraft. CL is a function of the angle of the body to the flow, its Reynolds number and its Mach number. The lift coefficient cl refers to the dynamic lift characteristics of a two-dimensional foil section, with the reference area replaced by the foil chord.[26][27]
- Lightcraft —
- Lighter than air —
- Liquid air cycle engine —
- Liquid fuels —
- Liquid rocket propellants —
- Lithobraking —
- Loiter —
- Low Earth orbit —
- Lunar space elevator —
M[edit]
- Mach number — In fluid dynamics, the Mach number is a dimensionless quantity representing the ratio of flow velocity past a boundary to the local speed of sound.[28][29]
- Magnetic sail —
- Magnetoplasmadynamic thruster —
- Mass —
- Mass driver —
- Mechanics of fluids —
- Membrane mirror —
- Metre per second —
- Microwave landing system —
- Mini-magnetospheric plasma propulsion —
- Moment of inertia —
- Momentum —
- Momentum wheel —
- Monopropellant rocket —
- Motion —
- Multistage rocket —
N[edit]
- Nanotechnology —
- NASA —
- Navier–Stokes equations —
- Newton (unit) —
- Newton's laws of motion —
- Nose cone design —
- Nozzle —
O[edit]
- Orbit —
- Orbit phasing —
- Orbital eccentricity —
- Orbital elements —
- Orbital inclination —
- Orbital inclination change —
- Orbital maneuver —
- Orbital mechanics —
- Orbital node —
- Orbital period —
- Orbital stationkeeping —
- Orbiter Boom Sensor System —
- Osculating orbit —
P[edit]
- Parallel axes rule —
- Parasitic drag —
- Parawing —
- Perpendicular axes rule —
- Physical science —
- Physics —
- Planetary orbit —
- Plasma (physics) —
- Plug nozzle —
- Pogo oscillation —
- Prandtl–Glauert singularity —
- Precession —
- Pressure —
- Pressure altitude —
- Pressure-fed engine —
- Propeller —
- Proper orbital elements —
- Pulsed inductive thruster —
- Pulsed plasma thruster —
- Propulsion —
Q[edit]
R[edit]
- Radar —
- Radio direction finder —
- Railgun —
- Ram accelerator —
- Ramjet —
- Rate of climb –
- Reaction control system —
- Redshift rocket —
- Reentry —
- Reflection —
- Relativistic rocket —
- Remote Manipulator System —
- Resistojet rocket —
- Reusable launch system —
- Reynolds number —
- RL-10 (rocket engine) —
- Rocket —
- Rocket engine –
- Rocket engine nozzle —
- Rocket fuel —
- Rocket launch —
- Rudder —
S[edit]
- SABRE —
- Satellite —
- Saturn (rocket family) —
- Scalar (physics) —
- Schlieren —
- Schlieren photography —
- Scramjet —
- Second moment of area —
- Shock wave —
- SI —
- Single point of failure —
- Single-stage to orbit —
- Skyhook (structure) —
- Slew —
- Stream function —
- Streamline —
- Solar panel —
- Solar sail —
- Solar thermal rocket —
- Solid of revolution —
- Solid rocket —
- Sound barrier —
- Space activity suit —
- Space elevator —
- Space fountain —
- Space plane —
- Space Shuttle —
- Space Shuttle external tank —
- Space Shuttle Main Engine —
- Space station —
- Space suit —
- Space technology —
- Space transport —
- Spacecraft —
- Spacecraft design —
- Spacecraft propulsion —
- Special relativity —
- Specific impulse —
- Speed of sound —
- Staged combustion cycle (rocket) —
- Subsonic —
- Supersonic —
- Surface of revolution —
- Sweep theory —
T[edit]
- Tait–Bryan rotations —
- Temperature —
- Terminal velocity —
- Test target —
- Tether propulsion —
- Thermal protection system —
- Thermodynamics —
- Thrust —
- Thruster —
- Torricelli's equation —
- Total air temperature —
- Trajectory —
- Trailing edge —
- Trans Lunar Injection —
- Transonic —
- Transverse wave —
- Tripropellant rocket —
- Tsiolkovsky rocket equation —
- Turbomachinery —
- Two stage to orbit —
U[edit]
- UFO —
V[edit]
- V-2 rocket —
- Variable specific impulse magnetoplasma rocket —
- Velocity —
- Viscometer —
- Viscosity —
- Vortex generator —
W[edit]
- Wave drag —
- Weight —
- Weight function —
- Wind tunnel —
- Wing —
- Woodward effect —
- Wright Flyer —
- Wright Glider of 1902 —
X[edit]
Y[edit]
Z[edit]
See also[edit]
- Aerospace engineering
- List of aviation, aerospace and aeronautical abbreviations
- Engineering
- Glossary of engineering
- National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES)
- Fundamentals of Engineering Examination
- Principles and Practice of Engineering Examination (PE exam)
- Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE)
- Glossary of areas of mathematics
- Glossary of artificial intelligence
- Glossary of astronomy
- Glossary of biology
- Glossary of chemistry
- Glossary of civil engineering
- Glossary of economics
- Glossary of mechanical engineering
- Glossary of physics
- Glossary of probability and statistics
- Glossary of structural engineering
References[edit]
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- ^ Abbott, Ira H., and Doenhoff, Albert E. von: Theory of Wing Sections. Section 1.2
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