<p>In practice/industry/whatever, what would each of these areas consist of doing? I'm seriously considering Aerospace now, not Civil. Any pros or cons in the Houston area? I would think, because of NASA and its contractors, this would be another good engineering degree to get. Thanks.</p>
<p>Core Area A: Aerodynamics and Heat Transfer</p>
<p>Core Area B: Structural Mechanics and Materials</p>
<p>Core Area C: Dynamics and Orbital Mechanics</p>
<p>Core Area D: Flight Controls and Automation</p>
<p>My guesses would be</p>
<p>A: aircraft shape design, wind tunnel stuff, reducing air friction
B: landing gear oporation, moving parts, making most efficiant use of structual materials
C: Spaceflight
D: condrol surfaces, fly-by-wire, auto pilot, pilot-aircraft interface</p>
<p>Thanks. I was set on Civil for a long time, but I used to be REALLY into aircraft. I read Skunk Works years ago, and it was fascinating. SR-71 Blackbird FTW! Haha. Also, the salary is better for Aerospace Engineering, and I think it's something I would naturally enjoy doing.</p>
<p>Core A: Like was said above, has to do with the design of the overall shape of the plane and wings. I'm guessing that jet propulsion would also fall into this category as well. That tends to deal with the thermodynamic cycle of a jet engine. It will deal with each component of the engine such as the turbomachinary to run the compressor and turbine, the combustion chamber, and the entrance and nozzle sections of the engine. Really heavy computational fluid dynamics is taking over a big chunk of that stuff. Lots of research going into the fluid dynamics of it all, I'm not sure if you are aware of SCRAM/RAM jet technology (I can go into further detail if you want) but those are some pretty neat topics which deal with the inlet and outlet flow of air into the engine. Heat transfer is a HUGE issue in all of this stuff as well. Essentially the efficiency of a jet engine is limited by the internal temperature that can be achieved in the combustion process. So keeping those turbine blades cool and design some real fancy materials to help the heat transfer is huge. In rocket propulsion, keeping the nozzle of the rocket is massive heat transfer problem. On the Shuttle they actually run the liquid fuel along the outside of the nozzle before it goes into the combustion chamber to keep it cool enough. </p>
<p>Core B: Going to deal with the forces seen on a plane during operation and how they effect the material that is used. Composite materials seem to be the hot new thing in the Aerospace world, so there will be a ton of research with that stuff. They are now starting to make turbine blades out of single crystalline metals that are amazing (and expensive :)). The mechanics and materials of aerospace applications can really deal with any system of the plane. The landing gear, wings, and even the material components of the engine (like I mentioned above, trying to keep the turbine blades from over-heating requires fancy metals). </p>
<p>Core C, D: Don't know too much about them, not my area of specilization.</p>
<p>Let me know if you want any more info.</p>
<p>Intereseting. Can you find out more information on C and D? Haha. Does UH have a good Aerospace Engineering program?</p>
<p>I'll find out about C after next semester, and frankly I dislike D so I won't ever find out about it. Outside of A and B anything that I would tell you I would have to look up, I'm pretty sure you are just as capable as me at doing that. After all, this is your decision, you may want to invest some time into it.</p>
<p>Haha. Yeah, I wouldn't want to do D either.</p>