While my Machine Design class at the Colorado School of Mines is off enjoying spring break, I sent them a short “Throwback Thursday” note about the rockets of yesteryear and the rocket systems being designed today. The note I wrote is below:
Hello class,
Long before any of us were born, NASA was doing some really interesting engineering design work. NASA engineers in the 1960s relied upon the same sort of analytic techniques and design skills that you are learning in Machine Design this semester. Engineers at SpaceX, Blue Origin, Orbital Sciences, Bigelow Aerospace, and Armadillo Aerospace rely upon the same basic engineering knowledge today as their predecessors did over 60 years ago with the Saturn V development.
Here is a short vintage NASA video going over some high-level information about the Saturn V launch vehicle:
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Here is a video of Elon Musk speaking about the future of design and manufacturing at SpaceX:
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Have a good spring break and I’ll see you all next week in Design Studio.
– Dr. Van Bossuyt