Course Schedule

This course is designed to explore the outstanding development of China's space program over the past 20 years, as well as to analyze the current and potential impact of China's space development on the balance of power in the 21st century space system. In recent years, China has emerged as a new superpower with global aspirations. In this context, China's space program plays a critical role as a result of its extraordinary progress in the space sector over the past two decades, which includes a manned space program, a space station, a lunar exploration program, and a recently established ambitious planetary exploration program. All of these elements demonstrate China's firm determination to become a new space leader and its desire to challenge U.S. leadership in space. At the dawn of a new space age, it seems important and useful to examine the historical development of China's space program, its significant role as a space power, and its implications for the 21st century space race.

This course constitutes an introduction to hypersonic aerodynamics and high-temperature gas dynamics as they apply to space sciences. The course provides a comprehensive analysis of the sustaining theories for both inviscid and viscous hypersonic flows, as well as for the dynamics of gases at high temperatures. The fundamentals of thermodynamics of chemically reacting gases, statistical thermodynamics, kinetic theory, and gases in chemical and vibrational non-equilibrium will be approached and examined to the level of detail appropriate to an engineering course. Sessions will be mainly organized in lecturing and collaborative problem solving. Complementary material such as videos and journal articles will also be used on a regular basis to reinforce and go beyond the basic concepts learnt in the course book. Students will put the acquired theoretical knowledge into practice through a range of assignments knowledge and understanding assessments, application of techniques for problem solving, and the analysis and critical evaluation of a hypersonic-related concept or application.

By the end of the course students will be able to:

• Knowledge level: describe the assumptions in terms of fundamental physics and chemistry principles that govern a particular hypersonic problem
• Application level: apply engineering requirements to spacecraft designs where hypersonic aerodynamics play a vital role; this objective is covered through specific lectures during the course
• Analysis level: compare different approximate methods to solve the flow around a hypersonic vehicle, and extract conclusions about their different results reached
• Synthesis level: formulate an approach to solve hypersonic flows with exact methods and explain foreseen results
• Evaluation level: argue the pros and cons of an approach to a hypersonic problem of their choice; the student will be able to design this approach and criticize the existing literature on the matter; this objective is covered through the in-class peer-reviewed literature analysis

This course is designed to explore the application of nuclear reactors to rocket propulsion in their two main versions: nuclear thermal (NTP) and nuclear electric (NEP) propulsion. The proposed schedule is divided into three blocks: the physics of nuclear propulsion, where an introduction to fission as well as fission will be given; the application to rocket propulsion; and an analysis of historical achievements in the field.

After successfully completing this course, you should be able to:

• Understand the main mechanisms involved in nuclear reactions, as they relate to the generation of heat that may subsequently be converted into propulsion energy
• Analyze the transformation of heat generated in a nuclear reactor into thermal (NTP) and electric (NEP) energy
• Explore some of the most important past applications of nuclear power in space propulsion; evaluate future applications in cislunar and deep space missions