ASTE 101 Fall 2023: Introduction to Astronautics
4 units
Lectures Mondays and Wednesdays 8:30-9:50 AM. Lab Tuesdays, 9:30-11:20 AM, Lecture: VHE 217. Lab: SAL 109
Instructor:
Dan Erwin, OHE 500W, 213-740-5358,
erwin@usc.edu.
Office Hours: Mondays 10 AM - noon; Tuesdays 12 noon – 3 PM
Catalogue Description
Gateway to the major in Astronautical Engineering.
Introduction to space, space exploration and the space
business. Elements of orbits, spacecraft systems, rocket
propulsion, and communications. Laboratory: Introduction
to graphics, computation and simulation.
Course Description
This course is usually taken by Astronautical Engineering majors in their first year. It is a broad introduction not only to the field of astronautics but to engineering in general and how engineering differs from science.
Learning Objectives
After taking this course, the student will:
- Understand the importance of space in our society.
- Be able to write simple programs in Matlab and Python.
- Understand basics of the engineering software systems STK and NX.
- Understand the role of uncertainty and its effects on engineering design, manufacturing and control.
- Understand the key role of systems engineering in development of technological products.
- Understand the key elements of the GPS global constellation as an exemplar large-scale space enterprise.
Course Notes
This course uses several pieces of software:
- Matlab: A numerical computing language and environment
- Systems Toolkit (STK), a software package widely used in the space industry for designing, analyzing and visualizing space missions. STK is generously provided for use in the ASTE curriculum by the company, Analytical Graphics Inc..
- Siemens NX, a computer-aided design (CAD) package
- Python, a general-purpose programming language
Students can install these packages on their own machines or can use them via the
Viterbi Desktop.
Lab
The lab will start in the third week of classes, so the first lab meeting will be Tuesday September 5.
The lab is primarily to allow increased instruction and group practice with the software packages
covered in the course. It is also a resource for discussing and asking questions about homework and projects.
Description and Assessment of Assignments:
- Homework: Written homework assigned weekly and due in class on Wednesdays. Homeworks will be graded and returned, generally in one week. Homework solutions will be posted on the class website.
- Projects: Two projects will be assigned during the semester. These will be done in teams. For each project, one written report will be submitted by each team. The second project will also have a team oral presentation.
- Final Exam: There will be no final exam. The oral presentations for the final project will be given in the two-hour time slot scheduled by the University for the final exam.
Grading Breakdown
Homework, 40%
1st Project, 25%
2nd Project, 25%
Oral Presentation of 2nd Project, 10%
|
Week
|
Date
|
Topics
|
Software/Hardware |
|
1
|
08/21 & 08/23
|
Importance and applications of space.
|
Introduction to Matlab. |
|
2
|
08/28 & 08/30
|
Near-Earth space and the Solar System.
|
|
|
3
|
09/04 & 09/06
|
Physics of spaceflight. Orbits.
|
Introduction to STK. |
|
4
|
09/11 & 09/13
|
Electromagnetic propagation. Applications to communications and imaging.
|
|
|
5
|
09/18 & 09/20
|
Rocket propulsion
|
NX design software. |
|
6
|
09/25 & 09/27
|
Systems engineering.
|
|
|
7
|
10/02 & 10/04
|
Errors and error propagation. Uncertainty in design.
|
Python programming |
|
8
|
10/09 & 10/11
|
Control of engineered systems.
|
|
|
9
|
10/16 & 10/18
|
Control methods and examples.
|
|
|
10
|
10/23 & 10/25
|
Filtering and estimation.
|
|
|
11
|
10/30 & 11/01
|
Filtering: Examples.
|
|
|
12
|
11/06 & 11/08
|
Global Positioning System.
|
Examples of control using microcomputers |
|
13
|
11/13 & 11/15
|
Ethical case study: Challenger explosion
|
|
|
14
|
11/20 & 11/22
|
Spacecraft as autonomous systems
|
|
|
15
|
11/27 & 11/29
|
New Space: Current space ventures and research efforts.
|
|
Statement on Academic Conduct and Support Systems
Academic Conduct
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offense with serious consequences. Please familiarize yourself with
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forms of academic dishonesty are equally unacceptable. See additional
information in SCampus and University policies on scientific misconduct.
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