What Is the Difference Between Aerospace and Aeronautical Engineering?

Though aerospace and aeronautical engineering have the same principles, there is a critical distinction between designing for air and space. ESiLV engineering school trains students to become engineers in the aeronautics and space industry, through the Computational Mechanics and Modelling major, but it’s important to clarify the difference.

In short, aerospace is a branch of engineering that has two sub-branches. One is aeronautical engineering, and another one is astronautical engineering. Both are based on the practical approach of learning and putting theories into practice; however, when distinguishing between aeronautical and aerospace, significant differences are noticed.

Common Areas

To start making sense of both the major and the sub-specialization, it’s good to start with the similarities. The main one is the focal point of their studies, which is flight. Both areas study flight stability, aerodynamics and aircraft control, as well as traditional engineering issues. Engineers in both branches typically have a bachelor’s degree in mechanical, computer or electrical engineering before pursuing a higher degree in computational mechanics or space engineering.

Aerospace Engineering

Aerospace engineering involves designing and developing civil aircraft, their maintenance, building, and testing of missiles, rockets, space shuttles, space stations, and all other related units. It’s practically the broader aspect comprising various smaller fields of engineering.

Aerospace Engineering consists of several exciting topics such as:

• Designing of Spacecraft, aircraft, missiles, or space stations
• Introduction to the field of Aeronautics
• Fundamental Principles related to jet propulsion
• Dynamics of spacecraft Introduction to Orbital Mechanics

Aeronautical Engineering

Aeronautical engineering tends to focus on flight and activities within an atmosphere, a more dedicated field of aerospace studies that usually includes the atmosphere, but also extends into applications in space, where there is no atmosphere.

Aeronautical engineering is the practice of designing and building aircraft, like airplanes and helicopters. Students earning a degree in aeronautical engineering take classes such as:

• Thermodynamics
• Heat Transfer
• Aircraft Structures
• Flight Mechanics
• Aircraft Stability and Control

The tasks of these engineers also revolve around meeting with clients, reviewing design proposals, determining the cost of production, performing tests to assess the safety of aircrafts, studying product performance issues, recommending solutions, and most importantly determining how to minimize environmental damage from aircraft.

At ESiLV engineering school, the courses use modelling and digital simulation tools during the studies and projects, while exploring at the same time the economic and human dimensions of these projects.

Find out more about ESILV’s programme and its project-based educational approach.