Lesson 1 History of Flight and Space Students will investigate careers associated with aerospace technologies in Lesson 1. The strengths and weaknesses of hot air balloons, airplanes, helicopters, rockets, and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles will be discussed. Students will differentiate between aircraft (any machine that flies) and airplanes (typical wing and motor configuration). Student groups will further investigate a type of aircraft by building a model and testing its flying capabilities. Different aircraft are capable of different types of flight. Students will create an infomercial to advertise their chosen aircraft, highlighting its history and specific advantages.
Lesson 2 Aeronautics In this lesson students will discover the fundamental scientific principles that allow heavier-than-air aircraft to fly. On a standard airplane, the forces acting on it can be divided into four components, lift, drag, thrust and weight. For aircraft to fly straight and level these forces must be balanced. Students will investigate Newton's Laws and how they contribute to lift and result in Bernoulli's Principle. Students will learn about testing tools aerospace engineers use to validate or refute their hypotheses. A virtual wind tunnel is used to explore how changing design parameters of airfoils change the total lift. Students also learn about aircraft components and how they contribute to performance and control. Students will apply their acquired knowledge to design an airfoil using software to predict its performance. They will use the airfoil to model a wing using Inventor and finally build their wing out of Styrofoam. This allows students to compare theoretical airfoil performance with actual physical wing performance.
Lesson 3 Traveling and Living in Space In Lesson 3 students learn about the technologies that have allowed for travel into space. They will compare and contrast technologies that allow for travel in air and in space. Students will design rockets and test them in a NASA simulator. After learning how people get to space, students will explore what it takes to stay and live in space. The culminating project has students design, build, and test a light-weight, mini-rover chassis for Mars.