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Aeronautical, astronautical, aquanautical, and terranautical
exploration technologies and their applications include vehicles,
components, remote observatories, and in-situ instruments.
All are enabled by:
- High-performance materials;
- Emerging design procedures;
- Energy systems;
- Advanced instrumentation development;
- Propulsion; and
- Progress in the understanding of natural
phenomena.
These lead, as appropriate, to human, robotic, or observational
exploration of unknown, extreme places. Exploration is a spiritually
appealing topic to both faculty and students, expressing the
essence of aerospace and mechanical engineering as well as
reaching out to many other branches of engineering and science.
Aerospace/Mechanical engineers and scientists have historically
provided many of the technological tools for exploration,
ranging from space probes to deep submersibles. Aerospace
and mechanical engineers have also addressed the scientific
issues associated with exploration, because synergistic benefits
accrue through an intimate understanding of both the vehicles
or instruments and the science. For students and faculty alike,
an involvement in the exploration enterprise is a captivating
experience.
At U.S.C. in Aerospace and Mechanical engineering we do research
on several aspects of exploration: the atmospheres and magnetospheres
of planets and their satellites; properties of interplanetary
and galactic plasmas; space science instrumentation; microgravity
studies of combustion and fluid flow phenomena; structures
for space exploration; microsatellites and micropropulsion;
autonomous sampling instruments; and oceanic and atmospheric
flow phenomena.
Faculty Research Interest Clusters associated with the Exploration
Technologies Theme are:
- Astronautics
- Computational Engineering and Information Technology
- Combustion and Heat Transfer
- Design and Manufacturing
- Dynamical Systems and Controls
- Environmental and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics
- High-Performance Advanced Materials
- Microgravity Studies
- Nano-, Micro-, and Meso-Scale Science and Devices
- Planetary Atmospheres and Magnetospheres
- Solid and Applied Mechanics
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