Intro to Aerospace Engineering Course

[KimberlyI]

15yo is very interested in majoring in aerospace engineering. He spends his free time designing/inventing. I'm wondering if there is some kind of course out there, maybe open courseware, that could give a taste for it as an elective in the coming year. His math level will be Alg 2, so maybe he needs more math? Any ideas/experience? He discovered the open courseware software from NASA, Vehicle Sketch Pad, the other day and is so excited about it! Thanks.

[Gwen in VA]

These are extracurricular activities, not classes, but if he is interested in aerospace, he might pursue --

 

* Civil Air Patrol -- an amazing EC that revolutionized my sons' lives. The focus is on discipline, leadership, and aerospace activities.

* R/C airplanes -- there is probably a club with a flying field not far from you.

 

Absolutely any activity that uses his hands and 3D visualization will be relevant to aero/astro, so anything from woodworking to to tinkering with machines will be helpful.

 

He might enjoy taking a class in computer-aided design at your local community college. Even a drawing class will be helpful in developing those visualization skills. And computer programming is helpful in any/every field of engineering these days.

[Arcadia]

He discovered the open courseware software from NASA, Vehicle Sketch Pad, the other day and is so excited about it!

 

If he is excited by the vehicle sketch pad, he might enjoy this MIT opencourseware materials for Introduction to Aerospace Engineering and Design.

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/aeronautics-and-astronautics/16-00-introduction-to-aerospace-engineering-and-design-spring-2003/

See if your library has this book

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/aeronautics-and-astronautics/16-00-introduction-to-aerospace-engineering-and-design-spring-2003/readings/

The course material download page is here

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/aeronautics-and-astronautics/16-00-introduction-to-aerospace-engineering-and-design-spring-2003/download-course-materials/

 

ETA:

Not a course but this website might interest your child

https://info.aiaa.org/AskPolaris/stu/highschool/Pages/default.aspx

[FaithManor]

Get two other teenagers with the same interest and find a sponsoring organization such as your church (which is considered educational by TARC standards), Boy Scouts, 4-H, a formal homeschool co-op, your community library, private school, etc. and start a Team America Rocketry Challenge competitive rocketry team. The entire organization is devoted to introducing students to engineering and in particular, math and aerospace. You'll need to find someone with a little experience to mentor them, and when it comes time to attempt a qualifying flight, you'll need someone with a National Association of Rocketry membership. If you can't find anyone local, find a 4-H volunteer with experience in teaching science, a local science or math teacher, or other and pay their annual membership fees. It's not difficult to do their NAR observing and certify the results of their qualifying flight. A college student at least 21 years old can also be a mentor. You could do it yourself. But if you are really unsure about digging into the engineering, if you live near or in a college town, you might want to see if a local math, astrophysics, or engineering student would volunteer.

 

Have the kids begin by reading "Handbook of Model Rocketry" by Harry Stein. They should spend the summer building level 1 - level 4 model rocket kits and flying them. They want to get the basics down first before they ever attempt to design a competitive rocket since the design challenge is pretty steep these days. This year's rocket had to fly to 750 feet with a total flight time of 48-50 seconds, carrying a single raw eggs weighing 57-63 grams horizontally (on it's side which makes it much more fragile) in the payload section, with rocket motors from a list of approved ones generally not exceeding an F 50 T, and only a 15" parachute/parasheet for the recovery device of the payload section. The rocket can be single, double, or triple stage. Those pieces that separate off from the payload can be recovered with any safety device the prevents them from descending at speeds greater than 20 mph. Every foot above or below 750 is a one pt. penalty and every second or portion of a second above or below is multiplied by 4. Low score - closest to perfect - is what the team is attempting to achieve. So, for example, the kids when out the other day and did some practice launching. First flight, 745 ft. flight time of 46.9 seconds. 5 pts. altitude penalty and 1.1 x 4 or 4.4 pts. of time penalty. So the score was 9.4. They took out 3 grams of ballast. Next flight, 750 ft. exactly but they had just a hint of thermal at apogee - so their flight time was 50.3. No altitude penalty and .3 x4 or 1.2 penalty on time. Total score - 1.2. We've never flown a zero, but we routinely fly 1-10 which is very good though anything can happen at Finals in Virginia because the conditions are so different from what we fine tune for here in Michigan.

 

Check the NAR site to see if there is a NAR Launch Field in your state. If so, take the kids on a field trip to one of their events. It is SPECTACULAR what some of these men and women do in aerospace engineering just as amateurs. There will also be young kids just starting out with their tiny level 1 rockets flying on B engines, and every skill level is oft time represented. This will help your team a lot.

 

A year of TARC costs about $1000.00 and especially the first year because the kids do not have a bank of supplies and will make LOTS of mistakes and potentially have a lot of CATO's (Catastrophic flights in which there is significant damage to or loss of the rocket, broken altimeter, etc.) Some sponsoring organizations will help with these costs. We've found local businesses LOVE to help the kids.

 

The hours spent in the first year, if the team is meeting weekly, taking assignments home, reading and taking notes from the Handbook, flying 23-30 times before attempting qualification, fundraising, doing research, and even starting a team website, would total a high school credit. However, I recommend not doing it this way because at college AP time you can't list it as an academic credit and then again as an extracurricular. You want it as an EC, something your child can really elaborate on, and even write admission's essays about. The academic learning that goes with TARC is amazing, and you can practically watch those critical thinking skills develop. I'm pretty certain if our team's brains had been MRI'd before they began in 2010, and then were scanned now, we'd be SHOCKED at the considerable increase in motor neurons in their corpus collosum, and their frontal lobes. It is one of the very best things we have ever chosen to do with our kids.

 

The goal is really just to have the kids go through the engineering process - gather requirements, define/plan, design prototype, test, test, test, re-design, test, test, test, final design, implementation, and then hopefully send in a qualifying score and not DQ (disqualify) on all three attempts. Being one of the top 100 teams and getting that invitation to the Finals, is icing on the cake, educationally speaking. Of course, if a team makes it, then they compete for $60,000.00+ in scholarships and prizes as well as spend the weekend rubbing elbows with senators and congresspersons or their staffers, industry leaders from AIA, Ratheon, DoD, NSA, Lockheed Martin, NASA, IBM, etc. and there are college scouts that routinely hang around....University of Alabama Huntsville, MIT, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, GW, UVA, and a few others. Last year the University of Michigan had a rep there. Since our team was competing as well as one from Grand Rapids, and three from Millington, we think they were checking out the Michigan juniors and seniors on those teams. The oldest we had at the time were high school freshman, but he still came and spent some time talking to them....very, very nice experience for our teens. Oh, and sometimes the military is there with their simulators which is a BLAST! Amongst the 500 NAR volunteers that help put on the event, many coming from as far away as California and Texas to assist, the kids find a huge number of individuals working STEM fields. Plus, the NASA employees are great! Last year, our team's range safety officer was a recently retired astronaut with great stories to tell.

 

If you wanted to also have coursework to count so the TARC team is an extracurricular, but you are still showing something in astronomy, aerospace, or engineering, check out MIT's Opencourseware. There are a LOT of options available. Just be aware that pre-calc is probably the minimum math needed to accomplish these classes. You might find one that is more of an intro elective for non-engineering majors, but it may not be heavy in engineering itself...."introduction to the solar system" comes to mind. You can probably find an introduction to astronomy book on amazon that is for elective, non math/physics majors, and use that as the basis of a credit that employs some of the Great Courses astronomy lectures. We will be doing this with our 12 year old who is only just in the middle of algebra 1 so isn't ready for pre-calc/calc based physics.

 

If you have more questions, feel free to PM me. However, don't expect a response until May 14th. We'll be out of town beginning May 9th and I have a lot of work and packing to do for the team between now and then. If anyone following this is from Virginia, TARC Finals is held in The Plains, VA. and admission is free. So, you could always make a field trip and watch the fun. It is an amazing event.

 

www.rocketcontest.org is the website for TARC and you can check out youtube for Covenant Christian Academy's videos from last year's event.

 

Happy launching!

Faith

[KimberlyI]

Thanks for the helpful replies!!

Faith, thanks for all info regarding TARC. It does sound wonderful!! This is not the season in life for me to get anything like that started but I wonder if we could join a team already up and going? And, thanks for being available for more questions in the future :drool:

[FaithManor]

Thanks for the helpful replies!!

Faith, thanks for all info regarding TARC. It does sound wonderful!! This is not the season in life for me to get anything like that started but I wonder if we could join a team already up and going? And, thanks for being available for more questions in the future :drool:

 

 

What state are you in? Unless you are in a state that mandates homeschoolers may take part in extra-curriculars funded by the school district, you probably can't get in on a public school team. Public schools represent the bulk of the teams. However, there are some 4-H teams, a few Boy Scout teams, a few private school teams - usually religious schools - and a couple of churches.

 

www.rocketcontest.org Click on Contest Info and then on registered teams. It is alphabetized by state.

 

Faith

[KimberlyI]

Thanks, Faith. We are in Minnesota. I checked the site and it does look as if all the registered teams are from public high schools. That's too bad. It sounds like such a fabulous experience. I'm going to keep it on the back burner though...maybe something will turn up. And I'll definitely keep your detailed description - it's so motivating!

[WTMCassandra]

Even if you can't join an official TARC team, there is much to be gained from the hobby of model rocketry. NAR has a program called NARTREK Cadet where students can learn skills individually. children have been involved with rocketry for a number of years, and they have learned SO much.

 

And think of the kind of people that do this as a hobby--my children count as their friends several Boeing aerospace engineers, at least one of whom has worked for NASA, statisticians, cryptographers, engineers and mathematicians, and law-enforcement personnel (a dispatcher/former cop, and a judge). It has truly introduced my children to the world and fellowship of scientists and engineers. The whole experience has been priceless.

 

My children have served as officers for several years in one of the few NAR clubs in the nation to have officers under 18. We are also part of a second, new club.

 

Even if you can't do TARC, model rocketry is the perfect hobby for children with interests in science and engineering. Just wait until they learn that students can earn a junior high-power certification when they turn 14 ; ).

 

Here is a list of NAR sections (clubs). You can search for one within driving distance.

[Teachin'Mine]

Google "online aerospace engineering course" and you'll find lots of options including MIT, Va Tech and others. I know the MIT course is free, but not sure about the others. No personal experience with any of them though.

[KimberlyI]

Even if you can't join an official TARC team, there is much to be gained from the hobby of model rocketry. NAR has a program called NARTREK Cadet where students can learn skills individually. children have been involved with rocketry for a number of years, and they have learned SO much.

 

Here is a list of NAR sections (clubs). You can search for one within driving distance.

 

 

Thanks!! I will look into this.

[Lilaclady]

Wow Faith, that's a load of good information. Thanks a lot for writing that. My dd is still a few years from that but we will keep it in mind.

[Mountainmama]

My son is doing aerospace design and cad this year. He is using the MIT course - books: Nasa space shuttle manual (amazon), project lead the way aerospace (highschool level engineering course), Fly to learn - a program that teaching basics of airplane design and testing and flight, learnerstv cad (2 programs) and solidworks. He is also doing electronics. There is also a hyperbolic geometry program on learnerstv that your son could probably also do if he has any geometry background.

[KimberlyI]

My son is doing aerospace design and cad this year. He is using the MIT course - books: Nasa space shuttle manual (amazon), project lead the way aerospace (highschool level engineering course), Fly to learn - a program that teaching basics of airplane design and testing and flight, learnerstv cad (2 programs) and solidworks. He is also doing electronics. There is also a hyperbolic geometry program on learnerstv that your son could probably also do if he has any geometry background.

 

Those sound perfect for him!! Thanks!

[Sebastian (a lady)]

How'd I miss this thread at the beginning of the month? Now I'm dying to know how the rocket competition went.

[Matryoshka]

What state are you in? Unless you are in a state that mandates homeschoolers may take part in extra-curriculars funded by the school district, you probably can't get in on a public school team. Public schools represent the bulk of the teams. However, there are some 4-H teams, a few Boy Scout teams, a few private school teams - usually religious schools - and a couple of churches.

 

www.rocketcontest.org Click on Contest Info and then on registered teams. It is alphabetized by state.

 

 

Somehow I missed this thread the first time. It seems the list of teams registered has been taken down now that this year's contest is over. :( Do you know of the page is archived somewhere or could still be reached another way? I'd love to see if there's a team anywhere near us...