Aerospace Seminars : Sustainability, Space & Drones

This course provides a detailed description of selected topics in aerospace. The topics that are covered will vary from one year to another. Guest speakers are invited to deliver a total of 9 lectures that will focus on one (or more) of the three themes:

• Sustainability in the aeronautics industry (topics might involve: electrical flight, sustainable aviation fuel, sustainable production, hydrogen-powered flight,…)
• Aerospace (topics might involve: hypersonic cruise vehicles, spacecraft atmospheric entry, space debris tracking and mitigation, Very Low Earth orbit space platform design, satellite operation,…)
• Drones (topics might involve: urban air mobility, drone design and operation, air traffic management in airspace shared by drones and commercial aviation,…)

• ​​​​At the end of this course, students will be able to:
  • Provide a detailed technical description of actual technologies and systems within sustainable aeronautics, aerospace, and drones,
  • Summarize the societal problem considered, the technical challenges in the field, some historical perspectives, ongoing research and industrial developments, as well as future prospects, 
  • Explain the main elements to be taken into account for the design of such technologies and systems, and apply them to simple cases,
  • Relate technical, economic, and operational factors for the design of these systems.
• In addition to getting familiar with state-of-the-art aerospace technology, the students have the opportunity to interact with actors of the aerospace industry, and learn about the role of an engineer in today's society.
• The students are also encouraged to discuss with the guest speakers about opportunities of internship.

Lectures given as 9 seminars (18h) and group project to prepare either a video or a poster (18h).

Course notes

• Université virtuelle

Contacts

Thierry Magin

Thierry.Magin@ulb.be

Campus

Solbosch

Method(s) of evaluation

• Other

Other

Written exam
The students will select individually 6 of the 9 seminars. The written exam will be based on some general questions on the material presented by the lecturers corresponding to the seminars selected. The presentations will be made available through the UV after each seminar. 

Project
Students will work in group to prepare either a video or a poster dedicated to one specific topic presented by the lecturers. The choice of topics and the guidelines will be provided after the last seminar. 

Mark calculation method (including weighting of intermediary marks)

Written exam (50%) and project (50%) 

The written exam can be waived when the students attend at least 6 of the 9 seminars. A presence sheet signed by the students present at each seminar will allow us to determine an exemption of the written exam. In this case, the total grade will be only based on the project grade.

Language(s) of evaluation

• english