Spacecraft engineering and research at Saint Louis University

Parks College of Engineering and Aviation of Saint Louis University [1i] has a tradition of offering an outstanding aerospace engineering education to prepare students at the undergraduate and graduate level for careers in commercial aviation, defense systems, and space systems fields. Courses are offered across the engineering spectrum (aerospace, electrical and computer engineering, and physics departments) ranging from an introduction to aerospace engineering to spacecraft design, spacecraft communications, and space physics. Students participate in courses that include orbital mechanics, space dynamics, spacecraft engineering, and space systems. Senior capstone project work is also included. A separate Astronautics Engineering track as well as a Minor in Space Systems Engineering for non-aerospace engineering students is currently being developed. A, number of student-driven space systems projects are in process that involve design, development, and test of small satellites similar to those recently highlighted in the March 2009 Systems article entitled The First one Hundred University-Class Spacecraft 1981 - 2008. Reference [4] identifies student spacecraft launched over the past 27 years.