Areas of Aerospace Interest

The aerospace field has a wide scope. Aerospace includes aerospace engineering, aeronautics, space exploration, satellites and more.
 
Government funding for space exploration amounts to about 1 percent of the federal budget. Private companies and suppliers, however, are also important to the aerospace industry. Two of these include:
  • Ford Aerospace (now owned by Loral Corporation)
  • Smiths Aerospace (now owned by GE Aviation).
 
However, when most people think of aerospace they think of NASA and space. Some of the primary areas of aerospace interest include the Earth's atmosphere and surrounding planets and bodies in space.
 
Space exploration has taught us a great deal about these far-away bodies and has also benefited our lives in many ways through aerospace technology spinoffs.
 
Because of space exploration and the field of aerospace, we know a great deal about the Earth's atmosphere, our moon, low orbit, the solar system and deep space. This is not to say that we know everything about these bodies. New technology is still being developed that will hopefully be able to tell us more. Many mysteries still exist surrounding space, and there is much more to explore and discover.
 
In this section, we'll discuss areas of aerospace interest in depth. We'll tell you what we know about these areas, how these discoveries were made and what there is left to uncover.

The Earth's Atmosphere

The Earth's atmosphere is made up of many layers and consists mostly of:
  • argon
  • nitrogen
  • oxygen.
Water, carbon dioxide, the ozone layer and greenhouse gases are also present.
 
The atmosphere around the Earth extends about 348 miles from Earth's surface. Its four different layers can be distinguished by changes in temperature, chemicals present, movement and density. The troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere and thermosphere are the four layers of the Earth's atmosphere.

Our Moon

The moon is one of the few bodies in space that we can generally always see from Earth. It is one of the oldest areas of aerospace interest. The moon is the second brightest object in the sky, second only to the sun.
 
The moon makes a complete orbit, or cycle, around the Earth every month. The different parts of this orbit are called moon phases. Many missions and studies have been done by NASA and other space-studying organizations to discover more information on our moon.

The Solar System

The solar system is made up of many planets and other celestial bodies in space. The Earth and its surrounding planets are included in the solar system, as are the sun and moon, asteroids, meteoroids, comets and even satellites.
 
The solar system is divided into two parts: the inner solar system and the outer solar system. For many years, people did not believe in the existence of the solar system. Telescopic exploration was the beginning of study and understanding of the solar system.

Deep Space

Deep space, as the name suggests, is how we describe the area far out into space beyond our known solar system. Among other mysteries, deep space holds black holes, wormholes and dark matter.
 
New technology and advances are still being made that will fully allow humans to study and understand deep space.
 
Resources
 
NASA (1997). Aerospace Technology Spinoffs. Retrieved January 18, 2008, from the NASA Web site: http://seds.org/technology/software/ussfspn.pdf.
 
NASA (1995). Exploration. Retrieved January 18, 2008, from the NASA Web site: http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/academy/space/atmosphere.html.
 
Nine Planets (2005). The Moon. Retrieved January 18, 2008, from the Nine Planets Web site: http://www.nineplanets.org/luna.html.