Main branches and specializations in Masters (MS) in Aerospace Engineering

Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches- aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Aeronautical Engineering deals with designing aircraft, jets, airplanes, and helicopters, while astronautical engineering deals with designing spacecraft, rockets, spaceships, satellites, lunar probes, etc. Whereas astronautical engineers work with the science and technology of designing spacecraft and satellites, aeronautical engineers handle aircraft and propulsion systems, confined to those that operate under the Earth’s atmosphere. However, there is some overlap between the two professions because they use many of the same skills, tools and abilities for their employers. Avionics engineering is similar, but deals with the electronics side of aerospace engineering. Aerospace engineering, particularly the astronautics branch, is often colloquially referred to as "rocket science".
Aerospace Engineering degrees open the way to professions involved in the building and maintenance of aircraft and spacecraft. By developing new flight technology and understanding the science of aerospace more thoroughly, aerospace engineers are vital to technological advances in the 21st century. It encompasses learning theories and principles, to testing and prototyping in the labs, to full scale builds in the workshop to learn design, production, systems, and related

Represents the branch of engineering that deals with the research, design, development, construction, testing, science and technology of aircraft. The field also covers investigation into aerodynamic characteristics of aircraft, including behaviors and related factors such as airfoil, control surfaces, lift and drag. If the history and methodology behind flying machines fascinates you, aeronautical engineering could be the degree for you.

Involves design, development and manufacture of spacecraft. Space vehicles have come a long way in a relatively short period of time as unmanned devices travel greater distances and remain there for longer periods through intelligent navigational systems and remote sensing. Scope of responsibilities includes designing products that use the appropriate engineering principles, meet quality standards, and adhere to environmental regulations. Astronautical engineers must also test the developed products to check for malfunctions. They are also commonly involved in overseeing the process for developing aircraft and aerospace products such as rockets, missiles, communication satellites, space launchers, space vehicles, direct broadcasting satellites, space navigational systems, reconnaissance satellites, planetary probes, and remote sensing satellites.

Aerodynamics Engineering is concerned with the interaction between bodies and the atmosphere, and the study of the resulting forces and motion of objects through the atmosphere, flow control and assessment, engine and experimental aerodynamics, transonic flow, hypersonic and high temperature gas dynamics and launch and re-entry aerodynamics. It teaches to use wind tunnels and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) for aerodynamic modelling, build scale models and carry out flight testing. Increasing environmental awareness lays greater emphasis on aerodynamic refinement in elements such as flight control and flight dynamic aspects. They are specialist in aerodynamic refinement and performance optimization for the next generation of aircrafts with expert knowledge of fluid flow behavior. Course Curriculum/Subjects include aerodynamic design, compressible flow, flow control, flow measurement, power control, structural design and fluid dynamics.

Avionics Engineering deals with the electronic systems used on aircraft, artificial satellites and spacecraft. A combination of ‘aviation’ and ‘electronics’, avionics includes flight instrumentation, cockpit displays, computers, navigation equipment, autopilot systems, radar systems, data acquisition systems, diagnostic systems, communication and air traffic control systems, satellite global positioning systems, black boxes, weather systems, weapons aiming and delivery, and height and speed sensors.
Subjects in course curriculum include avionic systems and design, electromagnetic compatibility, flight dynamics and control, motion control and servo drive systems, radar and navigation, reliability and failure and advanced instrumentation.

Aerospace Engineering Specializations include
Aeroelasticity is the study of the interaction of inertial, structural/elastic and aerodynamic forces on aircraft, buildings and surface vehicles, and the influence of this study on design, and aeroelastic concepts such as ‘the flexible aircraft’ and control reversal, divergence, flutter, limit cycle oscillations and vortex shedding. It deals with modelling the complex structural dynamics of aircraft and helicopters, and exploring interaction with aerodynamics and stability and conducting wind tunnel testing, ground vibration testing and flight flutter testing to evaluate aircrafts’ aeroelasticity issues.

Composites Analysis is the study of advanced composite materials (ACMs), and is important in the quest to make lighter yet stronger materials for aircraft. It involves analyzing these high-performance composite materials for their capabilities in new aircraft, aerospace structural parts and other challenging engineering applications. Composite systems could be polymer, metal, ceramic, analytical techniques could be fractography, mechanical testing, stress analysis, finite element analysis and laminate analysis. topics include cover design, joining, detection of defects, non-destructive evaluation, fatigue, impact, environment, fibre/matrix interfaces, stiffness/strength and manufacturing science.

Propulsion involves studying flow mechanics, thermo-dynamics, gas dynamics and strength of materials. Looking at the choice of appropriate vehicle engines. It includes design, development, production, assembly and testing of aircraft engines that must meet certain power and performance requirements, with a focus on basic propulsion considerations, turbo machinery, combustion chambers, afterburners, rocket nozzle designs, subsonic and supersonic intake designs and gas turbine configurations. Topics include theory for propeller-based propulsion, investigation of the propulsive efficiency of various aircraft propulsion types, environmental impact of aircraft propulsion and high-speed aircraft flight,

Structures and materials deals with typical terminology associated with aircraft structures and how to assess structural behavior through combinations of analytical, experimental and numerical techniques such as finite-element analysis. It involves predicting, and validating through experimentation, the behavior of structural members under load, how to design and size aircraft structural configuration with various load combinations in mind and learn about (and perhaps invent) novel materials, hybrid material combinations and explore new structural concepts – all with the aim of keeping structures and materials as lightweight as possible.

Other specialization options include but are not limited to:
Statics and dynamics (study of movement, forces and moments in mechanical systems)
Software (including specification, design, development and test of computer software for aeronautical applications)
Solid mechanics (stress and strain analysis of vehicle components)
Aeroacoustics (study of noise generation during flight)
Aervo- and power- systems (study of hydraulic and electrical systems for stability and control of air machines)