Terrestrial and Planetary Environmental Science and Engineering

This research focus area involves knowledge of composition, elements, behaviors and impact of the terrestrial and planetary environments on the design, development, testing and operation of systems and components for aerospace vehicles and satellites. The research in this area involves understanding of atmospheric variables such as wind profiles, turbulence, cloud cover, ice/frost formation. Researchers in this field perform analyses to define the environments, quantify their effect on vehicle design, development and operations and perform trade-off studies to optimize performance and assess risk.