Gain insights into using Python for mechanical and aerospace engineering. Learn about basics, graphing techniques, airfoil plotting, and dynamic pressure and orbital modeling in 2D and 3D.

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In this course, you will learn about the Python programming language in the context of mechanical and aerospace engineering. 

You will start with the basics of Python, like variables, collections, and different types of loops. Once you have the basics out of the way, the real fun begins. You will learn how to: graph thrust available and thrust required, graph dynamic pressure during a rocket launch, and how to plot airfoil coordinates. 

Towards the end, you will get a strong overview of orbital parameters and learn how to model both 2D and 3D static orbits. Once you’ve completed this course, you will have a better understanding of Python and how it works in the context of mechanical/aerospace engineering.

Python for Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

# Overview
Python is a perfect candidate for modeling simple 2-body orbits, like a satellite orbiting the Earth. (It is also a good candidate for complicated 3-body orbits, but we will not get into 3-body orbits in this course.) You want to be able to model basic circular and elliptical orbits in two and three dimensions. You will take advantage of `Matplotlib`’s `FuncAnimation()` function to animate the 2D orbit to show how the orbital velocity increases at the closest point to Earth and decreases at the farthest point from Earth. You can also use `Matplotlib`’s 3D plotting functionality to plot orbits in 3D, which will help to illustrate the effects of the different orbital parameters.

Solving the 2-body problem requires some form of ordinary differential equations to solve for time and position. These methods usually require a type of numerical method (Newton’s Method, Runge-Kutta methods, Kepler’s Method, or lots of others) to numerically solve position as a function of time. You could write these differential equation solvers yourself, but you can use existing libraries with this functionality. You will use `PyAstronomy`’s `KeplerEllipse` class to create x, y, and z coordinates of a satellite’s position over a period of time, then use `Matplotlib` to plot these points. The documentation for `PyAstronomy` can be found in footnote [1] at the end of this chapter.

# Basics of orbital mechanics

The particulars of the hows and whys of orbital mechanics are beyond the scope of this course; however, this will serve as a crash course in orbital mechanics. A satellite’s orbit around a body (i.e., Earth) can be described and calculated based on the following parameters:


Introduce the fundamentals of orbital mechanics.

Getting Comfortable with Python

FizzBuzz

Graphing Thrust Available and Thrust Required

Graphing Dynamic Pressure During a Rocket Launch

Getting and Plotting Airfoil Coordinates

Modeling a 2-Body Orbit in 2D and 3D

Unit Conversions

Introduction to Web Scraping

Modeling Camera Shutter Effect

Writing Reports with Pweave

The End

Overview of Orbital Parameters

Overview