AEROSPACE BASICS
Start with the ideas behind flight, rockets, spacecraft, and the materials that make exploration possible.
START WITH A QUESTION
Aerospace engineering brings together math, science, design, and problem-solving to understand and improve aircraft and spacecraft. Every aerospace challenge begins with questions: How does it move? How does it fly? How does it land? How do we keep people safe? Explore five areas of aerospace that inspired RocketRoots.
01 / ROCKET PROPULSION
Rocket propulsion creates the thrust that allows rockets to move through the atmosphere and space. Inside a rocket engine, fuel and an oxidizer produce hot, high-pressure gases that are forced through a nozzle at high speed. As those gases are pushed in one direction, the rocket moves in the opposite direction — an example of Newton’s Third Law of Motion. Unlike airplanes, rockets carry both fuel and oxidizer, allowing them to operate where there is no oxygen.
WHY IT MATTERS
Propulsion makes space exploration possible. It allows satellites to reach orbit, astronauts to travel into space, and robotic spacecraft to explore other worlds.
TRY THE IDEA
A balloon rocket can demonstrate the basic idea of thrust. Changing the amount of air or parts of the design creates an opportunity to test, compare results, and redesign.
KEY IDEAS · Thrust · Propulsion · Newton’s Third Law · Testing
TRY THE BALLOON-POWERED ROCKET
02 / AERODYNAMICS
Aerodynamics is the study of how air moves around objects such as airplanes, helicopters, rockets, and drones. Four important forces help explain flight: lift, weight, thrust, and drag. Aerospace engineers study these forces and the shapes of wings and vehicles to improve performance, stability, efficiency, and control.
WHY IT MATTERS
Aerodynamic design affects how aircraft and spacecraft perform. Reducing drag and improving lift can help vehicles travel more efficiently and safely.
TRY THE IDEA
Build different paper airplanes or simple gliders and test how changes in wing shape, size, or weight affect distance and time in the air.
KEY IDEAS · Lift · Weight · Thrust · Drag · Airflow
03 / SPACECRAFT LANDING SYSTEMS
Spacecraft landing systems allow vehicles to return safely to Earth or land on another planet or moon. Depending on the mission, engineers may use parachutes, heat shields, airbags, retrorockets, landing legs, or other systems to slow and protect a spacecraft.
WHY IT MATTERS
Landing systems protect astronauts, scientific equipment, and spacecraft. A landing system must be carefully designed and tested because a failure can put an entire mission at risk.
TRY THE IDEA
Students can design a landing system to protect a small object during a drop, then test different parachutes, cushions, or landing structures and improve the design.
KEY IDEAS · Descent · Parachutes · Impact Protection · Testing · Redesign
04 / HUMAN SPACEFLIGHT
Human spaceflight involves sending people into space aboard spacecraft designed to keep them alive and safe. Astronauts need oxygen, food, water, temperature control, protection, and systems that allow them to live and work in the harsh environment of space.
WHY IT MATTERS
Human spaceflight allows astronauts to conduct research, test technology, work aboard space stations, and prepare for future exploration of the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
TRY THE IDEA
A future RocketRoots challenge could explore astronaut tasks or ask students to design part of a spacecraft that helps keep a crew safe.
KEY IDEAS · Life Support · Crew Safety · Spacecraft Systems · Human Exploration
KEEP EXPLORING — HUMAN SPACEFLIGHT
05 / AEROSPACE MATERIALS
Aerospace materials are selected for properties such as strength, weight, durability, and their ability to withstand demanding conditions. Aircraft need materials that are lightweight but strong. Spacecraft materials may also need to survive extreme temperatures, radiation, launch vibrations, and the vacuum of space.
WHY IT MATTERS
Material choices affect the safety, efficiency, durability, and performance of aerospace vehicles.
TRY THE IDEA
Students can compare materials such as paper, cardboard, plastic, wood, aluminum foil, or craft sticks by testing their strength, flexibility, and weight.
KEY IDEAS · Strength · Weight · Durability · Materials · Engineering Trade-offs
NOW TRY IT YOURSELF
Engineering is not only about understanding an idea. It is also about building, testing, learning from the result, and improving the design. Start with RocketRoots’ first hands-on challenge and explore propulsion using simple materials.
TRY THE BALLOON-POWERED ROCKET