DAMP Blog

AE 240 - Spaceflight Mechanics

 
  • Dec 26, 2020

Spring 2020

Prof. Ashok Joshi

Author: Avinash Arun

Pre-requisite courses: None

Pre-requisite skills: None

Course Content:

  • Introduction: About space missions and Launch Vehicles
  • Ascent Mission
  • Multi-stage Launch Vehicles
  • Launch Vehicle Attitude Motion
  • Basic Orbital Solution
  • Satellite Operations
  • Spacecraft Motion
  • Descent Mission
  • Spacecraft Attitude Motion

Information about Projects/Assignments: A simple project which usually carries a weightage of 15% is given towards the end of the course The project aims to analyze a space mission. Students get a chance to implement whatever they have learnt throughout the course.

Quizzes/Midsem/Endsem papers Difficulty: 3/5

Overall Course Difficulty: Moderate

Average Time Commitment: (Apart from lectures and tutorials) Between 3-6 hrs

Attendance Policy: Attendance is not mandatory, but he keeps surprise quizzes almost every other class, so you need to attend every class.

General funda: Spaceflight Mechanics is a very interesting course and it get better as the course develops. The professor conducts surprise quizzes, Class Tests, Mid-sem and an End-sem. Surprise quizzes are held in almost every class, Hence, you have to attend all the classes if you do not want to miss them. The professor tests your understanding of the Theory in surprise quizzes and in the remaining exams he tests your problem solving skills.

Grading stats: The professor is usually lenient while grading.

AA 19
AB 13
BB 14
BC 8
CC 2
CD 4
DD 1
FF 5
PP 10
S 12

Professor’s Teaching Style: The professor completes the course in a very structured way. He starts right from the basics and breaks down the complicated parts in a way that it is easy to understand. The lectures were quite interesting and the topics were ended by some application based numericals making the topics clearer. He also gives a project in which students can apply whatever they have learned in the course.

Should you do this course?: Strongly recommended. The course content is very appealing, no wonder why people form various departments take up this course.

Spring 2022

Prof. Rohit Gupta

Author: Khuloudoh Maikho

Pre-requisite courses: None

Pre-requisite skills: None

Course Content:

  • Basic math:- vectors and vector products

  • Dynamics of point masses: position, velocity, acceleration, curved trajectories, reference frames, rotating vectors.

  • Two body problem:- orbit equation, circular orbits, elliptical orbits, parabolic orbits. hyperbolic orbits.

  • Restricted circular three body problem

  • Orbital Maneuvers:- hohmann transfer, bielliptic transfer, interplanetary transfers, method of conic patches, planetary escape and orbit capture.

  • Rigid body dynamics:- Torques/moments, Angular momentum, moment of inertia, Euler angles, rotations, quaternions.

Quizzes/Midsem/Endsem papers Difficulty: 4/5

Average Time Commitment: (Apart from lectures and tutorials) 2-3 hrs per week would suffice

Attendance Policy: No attendance policy, needless to say attendence is advised

General funda: Solve questions from the book H.D. Curtis they will really help with the concepts. For us he directly gave 1 or 2 questions from the book in the endsem (dont take this point for granted). However, his papers are conceptual and lengthy and at least 1 tricky question can be expected. In online he used to provide his handwritten notes, for offline this may or may not be the case as he prefers to write on the board.

Professor’s Teaching Style: The professor is chill, focuses on explaining the concepts properly. Sometimes when he doesn’t know something, he admits it. He prefers to write on the board rather than displaying slides (in online he used microsoft onenote which was available to see on MS teams).

Should you do this course?: If you are interested in spaceflight mechanics, then you should take this course as this is literally one of its kind. For aero people, its a core course so there is no asking.

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