Space at DIA - MSSE Program

8/18/2019 Space at DIA - MSSE Program

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MSSE Program

Aims and Scope

The MSSE Graduate Program offers advanced study and research leading to the Master of Sciedegree in Space Engineering (Laurea Magistrale in Ingegneria Aerospaziale - Indirizzo Spazi

According to the standardized European System of higher education (Bologna process), this higlevel degree is a 2-year graduate program involving a mandatory basis of 120 ECTS credits includa 24 credits research thesis. The program is exclusively offered in English to both nationalinternational students.

The program has been established and is specifically intended to train specialized professionalsto effectively carry out the design and management of complex space systems, as well as to prepstudents for further studies in the space engineering field. These objectives are pursued by provia thorough education in the foundations of the space engineering sciences, with emphasisresearch and the experimental methods.

Entering students should have a sound background in undergraduate mathematics, physics,engineering science. The theoretical and scientific aspects of space engineering are treated in dewith the aim of developing the capabilities necessary for the effective design and managemenspace vehicles and systems. The combination of knowledge and skills characterizing the graduprogram in space engineering are:

a thorough knowledge of the theoretical and scientific aspects of the physical and mathematdisciplines and of the other fundamental sciences, together with the capability to useknowledge to understand complex problems, or problems requiring an interdisciplinapproach;a thorough knowledge of the theoretical and scientific aspects of engineering in general, anmore detail, space and astronautical engineering;the capability to conceive, plan, design and manage complex and/or innovative systeprocesses and services;the capability of designing and managing complex experiments.

Research and course work in space engineering at the University of Pisa cover a very broad rangsubjects. In working for their degree, space engineering students may pursue a major study in onthe following areas: space systems, space propulsion, space structures, aerothermodynamics, spflight dynamics and control. The choice of one of the these fields allows students to focus tactivities, while taking advantage of the flexibility offered by the breadth of interests of the spgroup at DIA.

The MSSE program opens the way to further academic work as well as to professional activitieaerospace industry, in public and private research institutions in the aerospace field, in the Air Foand in industrial companies for the production of machinery and equipment where the applicatiospace-derived technologies is especially relevant. Finally, as a consequence of the multidisciplinnature of the educational program, the space engineering graduates will also easily find employm

in the mechanical industry, with specific reference to structural and fluid mechanic design work.

Tuition

Higher education in Italy is largely subsidized by the government. This applies to both foreignItalian students. Thanks to that, all students enrolled at the University of Pisa are only required toan annual enrollment fee (Tassa di iscrizione). The amount of the fee depends upon the countrorigin of the student and can vary from a minimum of about € 250 to a maximum of about € 2100most cases, foreign students pay tuition fees close to the minimum.

The MSSE scheme, which has been especially designed for the attendance of international studecomplements the basic program of the Laurea Magistrale in Aerospace Engineering by offering tparticipants a number of additional elements:

http://ec.europa.eu/education/higher-education/doc1290_en.htmhttp://www.spaceatdia.org/index.php?page=MSSE-program#tophttp://ec.europa.eu/education/lifelong-learning-policy/doc48_en.htmhttp://ec.europa.eu/education/higher-education/doc1290_en.htm


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Thermal-Fluid Sciences 2nd semester 6 CFU

Year 2

Spacecraft Structures andMechanisms

1st & 2ndsemester

12CFU

Rocket Propulsion I 1st semester 6 CFU

Rocket Propulsion II 2nd semester 6 CFU

Space Systems I 1st semester 6 CFU

Space Systems II 2nd semester 6 CFU

Final Project 1st & 2nd

semester 24

CFU

No special approval is necessary if the program suggested by the University is chosen.consultation with his or her advisor, a student may design a program of study consisting in a diffeset of graduate courses chosen among those offered by other graduate programs of AerospEngineering, totaling the prescribed number of credits and approved by the Degree Program Cou

Thesis. The preparation and discussion of a final thesis with a substantial research contentdistinctive originality is required. Each student is required to submit three copies of his or her thesithe Chair of the Degree Program Council at least two weeks before the degree is to be conferred.

Final Examination. A final graduation examination is required, where the candidate will presentdiscuss the contents and results of his or her thesis work. The final examination is conducted bCommittee appointed by the Dean of the Engineering Faculty (Preside della Facoltà di IngegneGraduation is awarded upon satisfactory completion of all of the required courses and succes

discussion of the thesis.

Courses

The courses offered for the MSSE option during the 2011/12 academic year are briefly illustratedbelow together with the relevant information: name, lecture period (1st/2nd semesters), number of credits, description, instructor, prerequisites (if any), proficiency verification procedure.

Aerospace Control Systems. 12 CFU, 1st & 2nd semester. The course aims at letting the stude

acquire the required elements for the design of control systems of typical use in aircrafts andsatellites. The techniques illustrated in the course include the analysis of linear systems by meansLaplace transforms and their design through several techniques in the frequency domain and in thtime domain approaches. Early in the design phase the student will be introduced to the use of computer assisted design tools (using Matlab). Instructor : Giovanni Mengali. Prerequisites: None.Proficiency verification: Written and oral exam.

Aerospace Structures. 1st & 2nd semester, 12 CFU. Continuum mechanics, strain and stresstensors, constitutive equations. Strain gauges. Theories of beams (De Saint Venant solids; beamsystems, virtual work and strain energy principles; stress characteristics; design criteria), plates(simply supported rectangular plates), thin structures (wing, fuselage, tail structures), and pressuri

vessels (cylindrical and spherical). Buckling of beams and plates (Euler’s theory, semi-empiricalsolutions for panels). Aerospace structures in the multidisciplinary context of aircraft design. ThePrandtlPlane aircraft configuration. Instructor : Mario Chiarelli. Prerequisites: None. Proficiency verification: Oral exam.

Electric Propulsion I, 6 CFU, 1st semester. The course introduces the basic background necessto tackle the study and the experimentation of the electric propulsion systems for space applicatiodevelops the fundamentals of plasma physics and describes its application to the analysis of theacceleration process in electric thrusters for space applications. Instructor : Mariano Andrenucci.Prerequisites: None. Proficiency verification: Oral exam.

Electric Propulsion II, 6 CFU, 2nd semester. The course imparts the students a specialized

preparation in the propulsion field extended to the most advanced or more recently introducedtechnologies, and provides them with the knowledge concerning the principles of operation, thetypical performance, the critical aspects and the state of development of electric thrusters for spacapplications needed to address the main problems of analysis, design, integration and usage.

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Instructor : Mariano Andrenucci. Prerequisites: Electric Propulsion I. Proficiency verification: Oralexam.

Spacecraft Structures and Mechnisms. 12 CFU, 1st & 2nd semester. The student whosuccessfully completes the course will be able to demonstrate a good knowledge of both mechaniand technological aspects that refer to the space structures and to the mechanisms; will be awarefatigue and fracture mechanics of metallic materials; will be able to solve problems of mechanics awill be able to prepare a technical report at the end of a project exercise. Instructor : Mario ChiarelliPrerequisites: None. Proficiency verification: Discussion of the project assignment and oral exam.

Rocket Propulsion I. 1st semester, 6 CFU. Rocket propulsion fundamentals; operational andperformance parameters; rocket propulsion systems and architecture; mission analysis andtrajectories; propulsive requirements; chemical propellant rocket performance; solid propellantrockets; liquid propellant rockets; hybrid rockets; turbomachines for rocket propulsion applications;cavitating turbopumps; missiles; solid propellant missiles; liquid propellant missiles. Instructor : Lucd’Agostino. Prerequisites: Thermal-Fluid Sciences. Proficiency verification: Oral exam.

Rocket Propulsion II. 2nd semester, 6 CFU. More advanced topics in rocket propulsion: solidpropellant combustion; combustion instabilities in solid propellant rockets; liquid propellantatomization and combustion; combustion instabilities in liquid propellant rockets; turbopump

cavitation; propellant flow instabilities in liquid propellant rockets; combustion instabilities in hybridpropellant rockets. Instructor : Luca d’Agostino. Prerequisites: Rocket Propulsion I. Proficiency verification: Oral exam.

Fundamentals of Spacecraft Technology. 1st semester, 6 CFU. The course is designed to provan overview of modern space instrumentation and sensors used in commercial and scientificpayloads for near Earth and interplanetary missions. Following an introduction on the spaceenvironment and operating conditions for various mission categories, the course introduces the batypes of space instrumentation and space sensors and how they are modeled and calibrated. Thediscussion covers aspects of satellite communications including topics related to signals and speccoding and modulation; navigation and signal processing applied to navigation receivers, remote

sensing as well as radar and image processing, telemetry and link budget, data storage andhandling, spacecraft bus design. Instructor : Salvo Marcuccio. Prerequisites: None. Proficiency verification: Oral exam.

Space Flight Mechanics. 12 CFU, 1st & 2nd semester. The student who completes the coursesuccessfully will be able to demonstrate a solid knowledge of the main issues related to theknowledge of physical phenomena and analytical procedures required to understand and predict tbehavior of orbiting spacecraft. He or she will be aware of the modern methodologies and suitableapplication tools, both from a theoretical and a practical viewpoint, required to tackle a missionanalysis in terms of orbital mechanics and attitude control. The course comprises a detailedintroduction to both orbital mechanics and spacecraft dynamics and control. The orbital mechanicincludes the Keplerian orbits, the problem of orbital transfers with impulsive manevers and low thr

transfers, the orbital perturbations, and an analysis of interplanetary trajectories using the methodpatched conics. The spacecraft dynamics includes the attitude motion of spacecraft, the gravitygradient stabilization with passive damping, the spacecraft dynamics with momentum wheels andattitude control systems. Instructor : Giovanni Mengali. Prerequisites: None. Proficiency verificationOral exam.

Space Systems I. 1st semester, 6 CFU. The course gives an overview of current methods in missanalysis and design for space systems. The main ideas of dynamical systems and optimal controltheories enabling derivation of non linear astrodynamics solutions are introduced. The general n-body dynamics are treated by decoupling the problem in simplified models spanning from theclassical patched conic approach to perturbation techniques. Mainly, restricted three body models,

with their inherent features, are presented together with optimization principles of non-Keplerian lothrust trajectories. Practical examples are discussed with reference to real mission applications.Instructor : Salvo Marcuccio. Prerequisites: Space Flight Mechanics I. Proficiency verification: Oralexam.

Space Systems II. 2nd semester, 6 CFU. The course illustrates the fundamental aspects of spacsystem design and integration: operational requirements; technical specifications; design phases,from conception to the preliminary design phase, to detailed design; definition and modeling of thespace system and of the main subsystems, with the relevant design methods and tools; integratiomethods; launch and system operation aspects, ground support, logistics and reliability. Practicalexamples are discussed with reference to geostationary telecommunication satellites, remote

sensing applications, constellations and global positioning, interplanetary missions. Instructor : SalMarcuccio. Prerequisites: Space Systems I. Proficiency verification: Oral exam and team designproject.

Thermal-Fluid Sciences. 2nd semester, 6 CFU. Thermodynamics; gas kinetics; thermochemistry


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chemical kinetics; fluid dynamic equations; mass transfer; ideal flows; acoustics; 1D gas dynamicsand hydrodynamics; shock and expansion waves; laminar viscous flows; fluid dynamic instability aturbulent transition; turbulent flows; heat transfer; two-phase flows and cavitation; chemically reactflows and combustion. Instructor : Luca d’Agostino. Prerequisites: None. Proficiency verification: Oexam.

Academic Calendar

The academic calendar defines the periods of lectures, examinations and vacations for all of theEngineering courses offered at the University of Pisa. All Engineering courses are taught over twosemesters separated by a period reserved for the examinations. Yearly courses are also held in tsegments, with intermediate exams, if any, held during the recess period between lectures. The fir semester develops from September to February and the second from February to July.

Lecture Periods:

1st period: October 1 – mid December 2nd period: March 1 – end of May with one week vacation for Easter

Examinations:

3 sessions in January and February (three weeks between sessions)3 sessions in June and July (three weeks between sessions)2 sessions in September (three weeks between sessions)

Grades

Numerical grades from less than 18/30 (failed) to 30/30 e lode (honors) are used to indicate the lof the student’s performance. Pass/Conditional/Fail grading can also be used for short and semincourses.

The instructor has full responsibility for assigning grades to students enrolled in his course. Ifstudent believes the grade is undeserved and is not happy with the explanations of the instruche/she can appeal to the Degree Program Council (Consiglio del Corso di Laurea), which will revthe case and possibly indicate to the registrar to enter a new grade in the student’s transcript.

Numerical grades from 66/110 (sufficient) to 110/110 e lode (honors) are used in the finalexamination to indicate the level of the student’s performance throughout his/her degree program iaerospace engineering disciplines.
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Space at DIA - MSSE Program