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Note: This page provides a general overview. For complete and accurate information, please consult the M.Eng. Student Services Coordinator. For current course offerings and information, refer to the Cornell University Registrar: Courses of Study.
Degree Requirements
The program’s flexibility allows students to build an individualized program of courses. Students are required to complete 30 credits of work at the graduate level. Each student’s curriculum includes a major design project along with a combination of technical courses. Students may also take one or two professional development courses to build complementary skills.
Required Courses
Combined, our general Spacecraft Engineering courses will teach you:
- Orbital mechanics, attitude dynamics, and spaceflight maneuvers
- Communications and structure
- Guidance, navigation, and control
- Spacecraft power, space propulsion, and payloads support
- Entry, descent, landing, and surface mobility
- Flight-computer hardware and software
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MAE 5065
Introduction To Spaceflight Mechanics
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MAE 5160
Spacecraft Technology and System Architecture
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MAE 6900 *
Special Investigations in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
*MAE 6900 is the course listing for our M.Eng. Project. This is the only required course in the Master of Engineering program. For distance learning students, this course is completed over the summer through the SmallSat Mission Design Project.
Focus Areas
Other courses are grouped by focus area. When taken together, they can help deepen your understanding of a particular subject within spacecraft engineering:
- Orbital Mechanics
- Space Robotics
- Propulsion
- Guidance and Navigation
- Advanced Engineering Topics
Focus Area: Orbital Mechanics
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MAE 6530
Space Exploration Engineering
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MAE 6700
Advanced Dynamics
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MAE 6720
Celestial Mechanics
Focus Area: Space Robotics
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MAE 5280
Adaptive and Learning Systems
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MAE 5816
Flexible Space Robotics
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MAE 5830
Astronautic Optimization
Focus Area: Propulsion
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MAE 5230
Intermediate Fluid Dynamics with CFD
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MAE 5430
Combustion Processes
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MAE 5510
Aerospace Propulsion
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MAE 5540
Propulsion of Spacecraft
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MAE 6430
Computational Combustion
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MAE 6540
Plasma Physics for Propulsion
Focus Area: Guidance and Navigation
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MAE 6060
Spacecraft Attitude Dynamics, Estimation and Control
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MAE 6760
Model Based Estimation
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MAE 6780
Multivariable Control Theory
Advanced Engineering Topics
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MAE 5135
Mechanics of Composite Structures
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MAE 5700
Finite Element Analysis for MAE Design
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MAE 5730
Intermediate Dynamics
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MAE 5770
Engineering Vibrations
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MAE 5780
Feedback Controls
SmallSat Mission Design Projects
Gain hands-on experience in developing innovative small spacecraft missions in high-priority areas of space science.
A major component of all Cornell M.Eng. degrees is your dedicated M.Eng. project. Listed as course number MAE 6900 (Special Investigations in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering) this takes the form of the Satellite Mission Design Project, and is run over the summer semester. It is a group project, completed together with the entire Distance Learning cohort, with one week that is held in-person at the Ithaca Campus in Upstate New York.
The goal of the project is to design a sophisticated and true-to-life satellite with a dedicated scientific mission. The science goals are selected to reflect current opportunities and priorities identified by NASA each year. A final report is produced that details everything you could anticipate from a real proposal submission; from launch opportunities and orbital staging, to scientific instrumentation and design traceability, to program planning and budgets.
A dedicated and experienced project supervisor with will help guide through your project. Further advice is provided through multiple faculty across both the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and the Department of Astronomy, in order to provide you with a full experience across a broad field. Online lectures will delve into NASA’s scientific priorities, the management of large scale proposals, science and technology traceability processes, systems integration, and a general introduction to the commercial-off-the-shelf market.
While much of the project is completed remotely on a part-time basis, the in-person week is a full-time stretch of dedicated work where the project really comes together. You will be provided with tons of faculty interaction and review, as well as opportunities to meet with industry leaders, tour campus facilities and join informal events with your colleagues.