>I'm not sure what kinds of other heavy scientific computing you've done, but CFD is a very difficult field and takes years to understand.

CFD isn't this difficult.

On one side you have partial differential equations (PDEs) describing fluid flow. On the other side you have numerical methods used to solve those PDEs. Put the two together, implement it in code, and you get a rudimentary CFD simulation. For CS students, who typically already have knowledge of numerical methods, coding one of these basic simulations can be done within a semester's worth of focused effort. Venturing into finer, more complex domains and trying to model more advanced flow phenomenons do indeed require years of study, but a beginner -- a 3rd year CS undergrad of all people -- has no need to deal with that stuff when all they want to accomplish is to get their feet wet with the inner workings of the simplest CFD simulation.

So let's not intimidate the poor kid and not oversell the profession. A lot of people love pretending like this stuff is black magic, presumably because it promotes job security, but it just isn't. There are lots of people doing CFD that come from CS and Applied Math backgrounds instead of Engineering or Physics. They all started somewhere. So can the OP.

-------------------------------------

@ /u/AnotherBrownBike

Khan Academy Physics, Fluid Dynamics lectures are your best friend in this.

I would recommend that you start with getting a decent physical understanding of incompressible (also called divergence-free) advection-diffusion equation. This is a simple PDE that describes how particles (or other quantities like energy) are transferred inside a physical system due to the process of diffusion and advection (aka convection). Solving this equation using a numerical solution method for PDEs (such as finite volume or finite element) will allow you to practice the fundamental underpinnings of a CFD code.

Finite Volume methods are more popular in CFD than finite element methods, because they're mathematically easier for people who have a robust understanding of fluid mechanics. That's not going to be the case for you, because you're not studying fluids academically. I would recommend that you focus on finite element methods instead. These are mathematically more challenging -- using them with fluid PDEs require stabilization terms (like SUPG or GLS) to prevent the solution from oscillating. However, the application of finite element methods to fluid PDEs require essentially no knowledge of the physics behind the PDE. It's pure mathematics, and you as a CS student should be well equipped to handle this.

If you're not familiar with finite element methods for solving PDEs, I would strongly recommend starting with a Python library called FEniCS. This is a brilliant finite element solver that allows you to input the bilinear form of your partial differential equation (Google what "bilinear form" is for finite element methods) in Python and generate a solution. This will allow you to practice the mathematics of finite element methods without getting tangled up in the code implementation of the solution process. Solve the Poisson equation first, and then the advection-diffusion.

Simple solvers you might like working with:

EasyCFD -- Educational program intended to teach the basics of a "black-box" CFD solver.

CFD Python -- A Python program designed with a 12-step lesson plan to solving Navier-Stokes equations.

PyFR -- Another Python-based flow solver. Documentation is a bit sparse, so you need an understanding of how CFD works to use it. But once you have that, PyFR's open-source nature allows you to break apart an actual full CFD solver and look at its components before trying to write your own.

Useful literature you might want to check out from your campus library:

White, Fluid Mechanics and/or Cengel and Cimbala, Fluid Mechanics -- Basically the two beginner level fluid mechanics bibles, depending on who you ask. An overwhelming number of engineers out there have had one or the other as their textbook in school. They're both fantastic. Flip a coin.

Moin, Fundamentals of Engineering Numerical Analysis -- Yet another undergraduate bible, this time on numerical methods commonly used by engineers (of all types). It covers material so crucial in all scientific computing that one of my doctoral qualification examiners specifically requested that I know this book from cover to cover.

Anderson, Computational Fluid Dynamics -- Superb introductory book that covers most everything related to CFD. If you're going to buy anything in this list, buy this one.

Hughes, Finite Element Methods -- The bible on finite element methods. The book focuses on structural applications (which do not require stabilization terms) but the mathematics involved are identical regardless of the physics behind the PDE, so this is still a very useful reference.

Zienkiewicz, Taylor and Nithiarasu, Finite Element Method for Fluid Dynamics -- Great supplement to Hughes' book for anyone using FEM on fluid flow. Covers stabilized methods, starting with easy equations (like advection-diffusion) and scaling up all the way to turbulent flows (which you shouldn't bother with right now).

Anderson, Fundamentals of Aerodynamics -- Just putting this down in case you ever need to specifically learn about aerodynamic applications of fluid flow.

Anderson, Introduction to Flight -- Used nationwide as an introductory aerospace engineering book. I recommend it to everybody outside of the industry who wants to work/study in it. Superfluously covers every aspect of the discipline, from structures to propulsion, from aerodynamics to flight control, from aviation to space.

Panton, Incompressible Flow -- Often used as a graduate level book on theoretical fluid mechanics. Focused mathematical approach. Not an easy read, required some prerequisite knowledge of fluid flow (overview of the fundamentals is very brief), but it's the next logical step up when you're ready to take your fluid work further.

Earlier this year I finished my PhD in aero (researching computational fluid dynamics). I'll go ahead and reiterate a couple of the other recommendations in this thread, I think they've given you pretty good advice so far.

Numerical Recipes is great, and you can even read their older editions for free online. Don't worry about them being older, their content really hasn't changed much over the years beyond switching around the programming language. A word of warning, though. The code itself in these books come with rather restrictive licenses, and what it ends up meaning for you is you can copy their code and use it yourself, but you aren't allowed to share it (although I don't think this is carefully enforced). If you want to share code, you'll either have to pay for their license, or use their code only as inspiration for writing your own. If you pay close attention to their licensing, they don't even let you store on your computer more than one copy of any of their functions (again, I can't imagine they actually have a way of enforcing this, but it makes me disappointed they do things this way nevertheless), so it can get problematic fast.

If you want more reading material, I've only paged through it myself but Chapra and Canale's book seems like a nice intro text (if it wasn't your textbook already), and uses MATLAB. Reddy has a well-liked intro to finite element methods. Some more graduate level texts are Moin, LeVeque (he has a bunch of good ones), and Trefethen.

Project Euler is indeed great.

I would also recommend you learn some other (any other, really) programming language. MATLAB is a fine tool, but learning something else as well will make you a better programmer and help you be versatile. I don't really recommend you go and learn half a dozen other languages, or even learn every feature available one language--just getting reasonably comfortable with one will do. I'd say pick any of: C, C++, Fortran 90 (or higher), or Python, but there are others as well. Python is probably the easiest to get into and there are lots of packages that will give it a similar "feel" to Matlab, if you like. One nice way of learning (I think) is going through Project Euler in your language of choice.

Slightly more long term, take other numerical/computational courses. As you take them, think about what you like to use computation for (if you don't have a good idea already). If you like to analyze data, develop more or less "simple" simulations to direct design decisions, and don't care so much for heavy simulations, you'll get a better idea of what to look for in industry. If you like physics simulations and solving PDEs, you may lean toward the research end of things and possibly dumping Matlab altogether in favor of more portable and high performance tools.

/u/another_user_name posted this list a while back. Actual aerospace textbooks are towards the bottom but you'll need a working knowledge of the prereqs first.

Non-core/Pre-reqs:

Mathematics:

Calculus.

1-4) Calculus, Stewart -- This is a very common book and I felt it was ok, but there's mixed opinions about it. Try to get a cheap, used copy.

1-4) Calculus, A New Horizon, Anton -- This is highly valued by many people, but I haven't read it.

1-4) Essential Calculus With Applications, Silverman -- Dover book.

More discussion in this reddit thread.

Linear Algebra

3) Linear Algebra and Its Applications,Lay -- I had this one in school. I think it was decent.

3) Linear Algebra, Shilov -- Dover book.

Differential Equations

4) An Introduction to Ordinary Differential Equations, Coddington -- Dover book, highly reviewed on Amazon.

G) Partial Differential Equations, Evans

G) Partial Differential Equations For Scientists and Engineers, Farlow

More discussion here.

Numerical Analysis

5) Numerical Analysis, Burden and Faires

Chemistry:

1. General Chemistry, Pauling is a good, low cost choice. I'm not sure what we used in school.
   
   

   Physics:
   

   
   2-4) Physics, Cutnel -- This was highly recommended, but I've not read it.
   
   

   Programming:
   

   
   

   Introductory Programming
   

   
   Programming is becoming unavoidable as an engineering skill. I think Python is a strong introductory language that's got a lot of uses in industry.
   
   

2. Learning Python, Lutz
   
   
3. Learn Python the Hard Way, Shaw -- Gaining popularity, also free online.
   
   

   Core Curriculum:
   

   
   

   Introduction:
   

   
   

4. Introduction to Flight, Anderson
   
   

   Aerodynamics:
   

   
   

5. Introduction to Fluid Mechanics, Fox, Pritchard McDonald
   
   
6. Fundamentals of Aerodynamics, Anderson
   
   
7. Theory of Wing Sections, Abbot and von Doenhoff -- Dover book, but very good for what it is.
   
   
8. Aerodynamics for Engineers, Bertin and Cummings -- Didn't use this as the text (used Anderson instead) but it's got more on stuff like Vortex Lattice Methods.
   
   
9. Modern Compressible Flow: With Historical Perspective, Anderson
   
   
10. Computational Fluid Dynamics, Anderson
    
    

    Thermodynamics, Heat transfer and Propulsion:
    

    
    

11. Introduction to Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer, Cengel
    
    
12. Mechanics and Thermodynamics of Propulsion, Hill and Peterson
    
    

    Flight Mechanics, Stability and Control
    

    
    5+) Flight Stability and Automatic Control, Nelson
    
    5+)[Performance, Stability, Dynamics, and Control of Airplanes, Second Edition](http://www.amazon.com/Performance-Stability-Dynamics-Airplanes-Education/dp/1563475839/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1315534435&sr=8-1, Pamadi) -- I gather this is better than Nelson
    
    

13. Airplane Aerodynamics and Performance, Roskam and Lan
    
    

    Engineering Mechanics and Structures:
    

    
    3-4) Engineering Mechanics: Statics and Dynamics, Hibbeler
    
    

14. Mechanics of Materials, Hibbeler
    
    
15. Mechanical Vibrations, Rao
    
    
16. Practical Stress Analysis for Design Engineers: Design & Analysis of Aerospace Vehicle Structures, Flabel
    
    6-8) Analysis and Design of Flight Vehicle Structures, Bruhn -- A good reference, never really used it as a text.
    
    
17. An Introduction to the Finite Element Method, Reddy
    
    G) Introduction to the Mechanics of a Continuous Medium, Malvern
    
    G) Fracture Mechanics, Anderson
    
    G) Mechanics of Composite Materials, Jones
    
    

    Electrical Engineering
    

    
    

18. Electrical Engineering Principles and Applications, Hambley
    
    

    Design and Optimization
    

    
    

19. Fundamentals of Aircraft and Airship Design, Nicolai and Carinchner
    
    
20. Aircraft Design: A Conceptual Approach, Raymer
    
    
21. Engineering Optimization: Theory and Practice, Rao
    
    

    Space Systems
    

    
    

22. Fundamentals of Astrodynamics and Applications, Vallado
    
    
23. Introduction to Space Dynamics, Thomson -- Dover book
    
    
24. Orbital Mechanics, Prussing and Conway
    
    
25. Fundamentals of Astrodynamics, Bate, Mueller and White
    
    
26. Space Mission Analysis and Design, Wertz and Larson

Easiest introduction (too simple, but a great overview):
http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-plasma-physics-controlled-fusion/dp/0306413329/ref=sr_sp-atf_title_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1404973723&sr=8-1&keywords=francis+chen+plasma

Better introduction (actually has real mathematics, this is like the Chen book but better for people who want to learn actual plasma physics because it doesn't baby you):
http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Plasma-Physics-R-J-Goldston/dp/075030183X/ref=sr_sp-atf_title_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1404973766&sr=8-1&keywords=goldston+plasma

Great introduction, and FREE:
http://farside.ph.utexas.edu/teaching/plasma/plasma.html

Good magnetohydronamics book:
http://www.amazon.com/Ideal-MHD-Jeffrey-P-Freidberg/dp/1107006252/ref=sr_sp-atf_title_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1404974045&sr=8-1&keywords=ideal+magnetohydrodynamics

Great waves book:
http://www.amazon.com/Waves-Plasmas-Thomas-H-Stix/dp/0883188597/ref=sr_sp-atf_title_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1404974079&sr=8-1&keywords=stix+waves

Computational shit because half of plasma physics is computing that shit:
http://www.amazon.com/Computational-Plasma-Physics-Applications-Astrophysics/dp/0813342112/ref=sr_sp-atf_title_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1404974113&sr=8-2&keywords=tajima+plasma

http://www.amazon.com/Plasma-Physics-Computer-Simulation-Series/dp/0750310251/ref=sr_sp-atf_title_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1404974148&sr=8-1&keywords=birdsall+langdon

Then there are also great papers, and I posted some links to papers in a previous post, but if you're asking to start, you want to start with Chen (and if it's too simple for you, move onto Fitzpatrick or Goldston). I also forgot to mention that Bellan and Ichimaru also have great books for introductory plasma physics.

EDIT:

I'd also like to add that I love you because this subreddit almost never ever mentions plasma physics.

Aerospace engineering?

I'm not sure if it's required of you, but learning matlab or fortran sooner than later would help.

"Fundamentals of Aerodynamics" by John D. Anderson, Jr. is a great book for information on multiple aerodynamic subjects. I needed it for one class but I'm still using it 2 years later. The newer version is expensive, as always, but you may be able to find an older version online. Hopefully you can see that link. It would be the first link I send to a UK resident that isn't blocked by region...

Taking an interest in flying is also helpful. If you have RC plane or amateur rocket experience; then you have employable experience for certain jobs and hopefully a better understanding of the dynamics of flight and control.

Caffeine. Coffee has been scientifically proven to be the best way to deliver caffeine to your body. During exams, drink liberally.

If you want to get super serious about this game and really know what you're doing, then I'd suggest getting this book and reading up on actual rocket science. Taking a class on astronautics in college was when I personally really started to understand the concepts required by KSP. However, in the interest of saving forty bucks, there's a lot out there on the internet that can teach you this stuff just as easily. Scott Manley's videos are pretty good. I'm also sure that there's some written tutorials out there.

By far the most important concept is that of deltav, which is actually formally written as Δv. Mathematically, this literally translates to change in velocity. When Kerbal Engineering Redux tells you how much Δv one of your stages contains, it's telling you that if there were no gravity, and your ship was floating in a pure vacuum motionless, and you pointed in one direction, and fired your rockets and emptied that entire stage's worth of fuel, that Δv number is how fast your rocket would be going at the end of the burn. Δv is a measure of how much "effort" your stage can put out and how much of a change in velocity it can impart on your rocket as a whole.

Δv is one of the most important concepts in navigating space, because in order to change from one orbit to another, there is a very specific, easily calculable change in velocity that must take place. You probably know that in order to orbit at a certain height above Kerbin, there is a very specific speed that your ship must have in order to maintain a perfectly circular orbit(this is assuming your orbit is perfectly spherical and not elliptical like most orbits are). Similarly, there is a very specific velocity that your ship must have when it leaves that orbit to head to the Mun in order to get that smooth elliptical transfer to the Mun. Therefore the difference in velocity between the circular orbit and the transfer orbit is the Δv that must be imparted onto the vehicle in order to transfer to the Mun. This is approximated for you on those Δv maps like this one.

So, by using Δv maps and maneuver nodes, you can figure out how much Δv you need to make your maneuvers, but now you need to figure out how much fuel you need to perform those maneuvers. That all depends on how much fuel is burned, how efficiently it is burned, how much structural weight is present in the rocket, and the weight ratio between fuel and structure. Another point to consider is that rocket acceleration is not constant, for as the rocket burns fuel, it will constantly get lighter and experience stronger and stronger acceleration, assuming that it is experiencing constant throttling. This has all been simplified by the Tsiolkovsky rocket equation. For all non-air breathing engines, Δv = (g0)(Isp)ln(Mi/Mf), where g0 is the gravitational acceleration at the surface of Kerbin(this is constant everywhere in the game, it's simply a unit conversion constant), Isp is the efficiency of the fuel and the engine burning it, Mi is the initial total mass of the vehicle before the burn, and Mf is the mass of the vehicle after the burn. You can calculate this yourself but since Kerbal Engineering Redux does this for you, why bother? However, it is important to understand the main criteria for adjusting Δv in your designs. g0 and Isp are mainly fixed values. The main variable to adjust in your designs is the mass ratio Mi/Mf. The less dead weight on your vehicle(this includes upper stages that haven't burned yet), and the more fuel burned, the more Δv you'll achieve in your designs. This is also why staging is so important. By staging and dropping your dead weight, you're decreasing structural mass hindering your upper stages and gaining more Δv. If you want to get more serious about your designs, you can add up the masses of the parts you want on your ship in a spreadsheet and calculate optimal staging sizes for your ship using the limited parts in the KSP inventory.

Other considerations are TWR, or Thrust to Weight ratio, which is simply the thrust of that stage matched to the weight of the whole ship. Changing the reference body in Kerbal Engineering simply adjusts the weight for each body. A lander on Minmus doesn't have to be super powerful, and might have a really small TWR on Kerbin, but that doesn't matter because all it needs to take off from Minmus is a TWR greater than 1 on Minmus, whose gravity is way weaker than Kerbin's.

I'll also throw out another tip that I hardly ever see mentioned here. Before you launch, check your center of mass and center of lift. In a rocket, your center of lift should always be below the center of mass. If it isn't, then you need to add stabilizing fins at the bottom of your rocket. A rocket with the center of lift above the center of mass is very likely to flip over backwards during its launch. Also, if you're attaching control surfaces, they're more effective the farther away they are from the center of mass, so it's always important to know where your center of mass is.

>So "outdated" that you can't refute anything it says, or mention a specific ?

Touchy, eh? I didn't know that was your site, but it doesn't change my opinion. Though perhaps I should have said narrow-minded instead.

I'll touch on the three points you put at the top, for now:

>Reduce cost-to-Earth-orbit by a factor of 100 or so. Everything else depends on this. Probably means a new propulsion technology for surface-to-orbit.

Launch costs have traditionally been high not because of technical issues, but programmatic ones. The Space Shuttle is a prime example of this. If New Armstrong turns out to be fully reusable, as the plan is for the BFR, I expect the cost of space access to be drastically lowered - SpaceX themselves claims that the BFR will be cheaper to launch than a Falcon 1. Take their claims with a grain of salt, but I expect both they and Blue will continue working to drive down costs, no matter the time frame.

At the same time, though, building something such as a space elevator or laser launch system would definitely help drop launch costs further, but space elevators are currently impractical as we don't have the materials science for them, and laser launch would need a vast upfront investment. The military might pay for it - I don't see NASA attempting it.


>Find a place where we could build a self-sustaining colony.


This one's easy. We can build one almost anywhere we choose. In your 'Future' section you note all of these:

• Gravity. Human bodies do not react well to sustained zero gravity; animals and plants affected too.
  
• Atmosphere. For protection from UV, protection from micro-meteorites, for breathing, for manufacturing.
  
• Magnetosphere. For protection from cosmic and solar radiation.
  
• Water. For human consumption, for growing food, for manufacturing.
  
• Oxygen. For human consumption.
  
• Raw materials to make fuel. Need energy for transportation, living, manufacturing.
  
• Platform to grow food. Soil, nitrogen, other elements ?
  
• Raw materials for manufacturing.
  
• Reasonable temperatures. We can compensate for extreme temperatures, but that will increase costs of everything else.
  
  We don't need a planetary body to have any of that. I think you've fallen into the trap of what Isaac Asimov called 'planetary chauvinism' - expecting that we need to live on a planetary body. We don't. We have the technical ability, if not the funding or the political will, to build large colonies in space, where we can provide all of those above bullet points - with the exception of the magnetosphere, though full radiation protection is still doable. Take a look at Gerard O'Neill's The High Frontier for more information.
  
  >Develop a new propulsion technology for use in space. Carrying chemical rocket fuel around imposes huge penalties on every mission. In fact, eventually we really need faster-than-light (FTL) travel if we're going to go anywhere useful, but who knows if we'll ever get that ?
  
  I think you're partially right here, but only partially. We do have other options for in-space propulsion - among them ion thrusters and nuclear thermal propulsion. Somewhat more out there is mass driver propulsion, but that's also doable from a technical standpoint. All three of these offer much higher ISP over chemical rockets, though they have their own tradeoffs.
  
  Where I think you go wrong here is assuming to go anywhere useful we need FTL. Our own solar system is quite interesting enough, with lots of available energy and materials for us to use. While I'd love to see humanity gain the ability to go to other stars as well, you still don't need FTL for that. So long as you can accelerate to some reasonable fraction of lightspeed, you can go from star to star without expending too much of someone's lifespan. Theoretically, an antimatter starship would be a good bet for that.
  
  As I've been doing other things in the process of writing this comment, I decided to add these comments:
  
  Your comment on near-Earth asteroid mining: "Doesn't sound feasible to me." It is very feasible. About ten percent of NEAs are easier to reach, from an energy perspective, than the Moon, and many of those have a low return delta-V. Outside of that, while using chemical propulsion alone probably isn't the best idea, ion engines, mass drivers, and solar sails are all viable means of reaching and redirecting asteroids, should anyone choose to do that.
  
  There are also vast resources contained within the asteroids - we can tell, using techniques such as spectrophotometry, polarimetry, and radiometry, what they consist of, so there's little risk of sending a probe out to one and coming up dry. You can find more information on projected asteroidal resources in Asteroid Mining 101 by John Lewis.
  
  And I have to ask: why would you bother using a solid-rocket booster to move an asteroid? Seems ridiculous.
  
  Your comment on competition, where you talk about the money wasted on spaceflight: I agree, actually - the money was wasted not because there are no resources in space, or that it's too expensive to exploit them - the money was wasted because of a few factors: a government monopoly on spaceflight; regulations prohibiting ownership of resources (now we're starting to see laws promulgated permitting private use), cost-plus and FAR contracting, which drove up costs, and an overall lack of direction or purpose. Now, as commercial companies start to ramp up operations, and look for incentives to keep costs low, we should finally see a change in the market. Each time previously there were too many factors still prohibiting vigorous commercial development - most of those barriers are now gone.
  
  Your insinuation that unmanned probes are cheaper and more effective than manned missions:
  
  A few notes here:
  
  
• Robots have to make do with what's programmed into them. A human has far more decision-making ability
  
• Humans are more mobile than robots
  
• Humans can more easily deploy and maintain equipment
  
  You might like to read this paper about the efficacy of humans vs. robots.
  
  Exploration for scientific purposes should be both-and, not either-or. The more we move the economic frontier into space, the more science we'll be able to do, whether purposefully or as a byproduct.

Not directly related to SpaceX, but pretty exciting news, it could really open up the solar system (thus makes Mars colonization easier, so not totally unrelated to SpaceX ;-) ). This drive is similar in effect to EMDrive, but is much less controversial and has much better theoretical foundation, it's also less well-known. To see a layman's explanation of this drive, see: https://boingboing.net/2014/11/24/the-quest-for-a-reactionless-s.html, there's also a book: Making Starships and Stargates: The Science of Interstellar Transport and Absurdly Benign Wormholes

NIAC is NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts, it's a program to provide small amount of funding for TRL 1 breakthrough technologies, this is the best part of NASA IMHO, really what NASA should be doing.

• Aerodynamics: Anything written by John Anderson. Specifically Fundamentals of Aerodynamics is a good general text. I have every book he's written and they're all pillars of excellent teaching. If you're just looking to get started, I teach incoming freshmen from his Introduction to Flight book which is very easy to pick up regardless of your level of knowledge.
  
  
• Jet Propulsion: Aircraft Propulsion by Saeed Farokhi. Don't let the name scare you away. This book is my engine bible. He's an excellent professor and his book is a labor of love.
  
  
• Rocket Propulsion: Rocket Propulsion Elements by Sutton & Biblarz is the standard and is the reference I keep on hand for rocket data and theory.
  
  
• Aircraft Design: Jan Roskam's Aircraft Design Series (8 books) contain an amazing wealth of information and serve as a 'cookbook' for aircraft design. Some of the information is dated and it's not always easy to read, but it's the only place you'll find a lot of the information. As a second reference, I keep Nicolai's Fundamentals of Aircraft & Airship Design Part 1 on hand as well. It's very easy to read and I feel it's superior in approach and presentation to Raymer's Aircraft Design: A Conceptual Approach which is what I originally learned from.

Are you asking about purely the shape? This is actually an exceedingly hard and narrow topic of interest. Specifically, mostly military in nature.

The best open literature resource I have found regarding this top is Simmons' book: [https://www.amazon.com/Rocket-Exhaust-Plume-Phenomenology-Simmons/dp/188498908X]

There's a huge piece of the puzzle that is based on radiation - excitation of species (dependent on propellants) in the exhaust plume and the associated spectral emissivity. It helps that you have one piece of the puzzle, the engine side (geometry, operating conditions, propellants, exhaust gas properties (from simulation)). The other piece of "visual properties" then depends on what type of detector you are using -- human eye, IR detected, space based detector. Then you have to account for attenuation of the different spectral lines in the atmosphere.

> is there anyway to calculate, for example, the total length of the plume?

Here you is where you start to ask, "as seen by what/whom?".

Of course, a great place to start is to just approach as a purely gas-dynamics problem. Even then you are starting to get into turbulence modeling due to mixing with ambient air at some downstream point. If you are approaching this problem, I would start simple (ignore all the hard stuff and improve from there).

Programming is a great background to have, but as you wander into the realm of CFD (fluids-physics based programming), I recommend reading up on numerical methods and modeling! The resource I used was an old purple-covered book about Numerical Methods in Fortran. Modern day resources are likely both more accessible and up-to-date. Coding is one piece, numerical methods is another piece, computational fluid dyanmics (representing physics/fluids with equations) is another piece. It's a long and fun road, good luck.

One interesting story that is brought up in the plume identification problem from space-based detectors is: How do you distinguish between a rocket launch and an oil-pipeline fire? Hydrocarbon/Oxygen|Air combustion products are similar and bright. One instance of this was when US-based space-detectors identified a large rocket launch out of a foreign territory that turned out to juts be a large oil fire. Obviously modern improvements have been made, but interesting cross-over phenomena.

Aerodynamics, especially automotive aerodynamics, is a very complex subject. If you pursue this path in undergrad you'll need to get comfortable with advanced calculus and physics, as well as fluid mechanics. From experience, I would highly recommend getting involved with the car project teams at whatever university you decide to go to if you want to pursue a career in motorsport. Motorsport teams are looking for people that are not only exceptionally knowledgeable in their field but also passionate about racing.

As for things to read, there are loads of books on the subject. Understanding Aerodynamics by Doug McLean and Fundamentals of Aerodynamics by Anderson are two aerodynamics books sitting on my bookshelf.

For automotive/motorsport aerodynamics, the following are good books from my bookshelf:

Competition Car Aerodynamics by McBeath

Race Car Aerodynamics: Designing for Speed by Katz

Aerodynamics of Road Vehicles by Schuetz

Note, Aerodynamics of Road Vehicles is a full-on textbook and may be beyond what you're looking for, but it goes into great depth on a number of road vehicle aerodynamic topics.

One last book I came across on Amazon is Amateur Car Aerodynamics by Edgar. I haven't read this book, but the title sounds like the language may be more suited for people who don't have a background in fluid mechanics.

If there are any specific topics in fluid mechanics/aerodynamics that you are looking for I may be able to help find some.

Thanks! Sounds like you have a good plan. I can't remember the exact book but I used something like this and put in the work to restore those ancient high school brain cells that know how to take aptitude tests. I took multiple practice tests and scored OK. Also did the study guides and practice tests for the army SIFT.

I did well on the actual tests using the strategies presented in the book. All in the 90's except my quant which was 70-something and tbh my weakest area is most definitely math so I was ready for that. I did visit the unit a few times and rubbed elbows, that's a very important part of the courtship that comes with rushing a Guard unit. Good luck!

Hi Colonel Aldrin!

I have a question in three parts.

1. You've said you would be in favor of a one-man one-way trip to Mars, and recently released a book on the subject. How do you feel about SpaceX attempting to beat your goals for mars colonization by roughly a decade?
   
   
2. What are your general feelings about space shifting from the domain of grand ideologies and large governmental budgets to the domain of profit-incentives and privatized contractors? In your estimation, can the two coexist?
   
   
3. How would you influence (or like to influence) the selection of a first person on Mars?
   
   It's an incredible honor and dream come true to be able to communicate with you. We truly live in a fantastic era.

>I can't speak for this "Spacecraft Systems Engineering." The recommendations say it's a good supplement to the book I mentioned above-so that's a good sign. Would consider getting it afterward the one above.

I have both the SMAD and this book and I can recommend both. They are both really good books imo and have lots of information for the preliminary design of spacecraft and are definitely very good to learn the basics. I think the main difference between the two books is that the SMAD is originally from the United States and Spacecraft Systems Engineering is originally from the UK, its pretty interesting to see how some problems are approached slightly differently across the globe. The general story is about the same though. However note that if you really want to go into detailed design I think more specialised books/papers are needed.

In no particular order but all of the following are great.

• Skunk Works by Ben Rich - I reviewed it here
  
• Ignition! - It's an informal history of liquid rocket propellant and I did a more in depth review of it here
  
• The Design of Everyday Things - A book about how objects are designed. It changed how I look at the world and approach design. It took me few tries to get into it the first time.
  
• Introduction to Astrodynamics by Battin - A great textbook on the basics of astrodynamics that is both easy enough for undergrads to start, and rigorous enough to keep you interested as your math skills improve in grad school and later.

One of my favorite bits is where Tyson shows an anti-Big Bang theory billboard as an example of Christian stupidity. He seems unaware that a Catholic priest, Father Georges Lemaître, formulated the Big Bang Theory.

It is the current fashion to blame our decline of competence on rising religiosity. But religiosity has also been on the decline. A bigger percentage of the populace were going to church when we landed on the moon.

A religious faith carries a body of memes and traditions that serve their adherents well. Many great physicists and mathematicians were Jewish. Yes, some of these Jews were agnostics. But they were beneficiaries of jewish traditions: reverence for scholarship and a strong work ethic.

The Catholic church carries similar traditions. The church has a long history of teaching literacy, building schools, universities, hospitals and observatories. To this day Catholic schools are known for academic excellence.

I have known Mormon people with admirable qualities: sobriety, a strong work ethic and devotion to family. This faith has teachings that make Mormons a plus to the communities they belong to. Including the scientific community. One of the planetary scientists I most admire, John S. Lewis, is a Mormon. A few of Lewis' books: Rain Of Iron and Ice, Mining The Sky, and Asteroid Mining 101.

Wikipedia has an interesting list: scientists who were (or are) Christian. That's a lot of people Tyson would keep out of his laboratory. Not only Isaac Newton but also Max Planck, Kurt Gödel, Werner Heisenberg, James Clerk Maxwell, Ernest Rutherford, and a host of others.

Who would Tyson put in his laboratory (if he had one)? Maybe Bill Nye. Or perhaps some of his defenders that sincerely inform me inverse square is an exponential function. Or that there are more transcendental numbers than irrationals.

Personally, I blame our decline in competence on the growth of the IFLS crowd.

You're welcome.

If you would like to learn a bit more about this kinda thing and the engineering behind spacecraft I can recommend a couple of good books:

How Spacecraft Fly: Spaceflight Without Formulae is a good intro.
If you are looking for a bit more Spacecraft Systems Engineering goes into more detail but requires some understanding of calculus. For both Google can be your friend for finding sources.

Flick through even just the first one and you'll gain a new perspective when playing KSP on what everything does and why it is needed!

Then get ready to have your socks knocked off. I'm a plasma physicist.
My entire career is studying plasmas.

There are actually a few of us over at /r/askscience.

Want to know more about the topic?
How much math do you know? A lot? Cool. Check out Chen's Intro to Plasma Physics book. It's what most all physics students are introduced to the topic through.

Not a physics or math major? No problem. I really recommend Eliezer's book The Fourth State of Matter. It's written for anyone that wants to know more about the state of matter that makes up 99% of the universe and is pretty math free.
I actually gave my parents a copy when I told them what I was going to graduate school for.

The American Physical Society (APS), the big professional organization for physicists all over the US, even has a special Division of Plasma Physics (DPP). Check out the site, especially the "links" and "education and outreach" sections for more info.

Send me a PM if you ever want to talk about it.

The Lewis book listed below is definitely great as well as the Roskam book, but the Roskam text it is a little over simplified for my liking, since he was the main professor at my university I naturally had to use this book. But a more updated version of this book is http://www.amazon.com/Aircraft-Dynamics-Simulation-Marcello-Napolitano/dp/0470626674/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422294052&sr=8-1&keywords=flight+dynamics.

My favorite dynamics and control book is http://www.amazon.com/Flight-Dynamics-Robert-F-Stengel/dp/0691114072/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1422294052&sr=8-2&keywords=flight+dynamics

A ton of people come into aero not really knowing what to expect. As a freshman, my core labs/classes for aero all used Introduction to Flight. Not saying you should buy it (because it is an expensive textbook), but if you can find a pdf I highly suggest reading through it. It will give you an idea of what formulas are used, what kind of units you have to juggle and the basic concept behind the plug and chug work. If you do get into an aero program, good luck and keep your grades up. If you can come out of an aero program with a 3.5+ GPA you can most certainly get a dream job.

There are interesting papers from the early 70s about multiple directions that original shuttle design work was going into and they included metallic TPS / internal fuel tanks / reusable flyback boosters and many more interesting technologies.
There is a great MIT course on that subject http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/aeronautics-and-astronautics/16-885j-aircraft-systems-engineering-fall-2005/video-lectures/lecture-7/ and the book http://www.amazon.com/Spacecraft-Systems-Engineering-Peter-Fortescue/dp/0471619515
Is a good place to start

edit: Now I see that you're a first year mechanical engineering student. Good luck! If your professor assigned this to you... I wonder what they expect you to do :/

I now see that you've been posting this on /r/askengineers, /r/diy, and /r/engineeringstudents.

I think your overall question is the subject of several university courses and can't be covered in a single reddit thread.

I recommend the following textbooks:

1. Design and Performance Evaluation of a Propeller
   
   
2. Theory of Wing Sections
   
   You should be familiar with Calculus and Differential Equations.
   
   If you would like to study this in college, you need to take courses on Aircraft Propulsion, Fluid Dynamics, and Laminar Flow.
   
   Propellers have basically been designed ad nauseum since the 1930's. Creating your own propeller... while interesting... won't serve you well in the long run.
   
   If you really want to design your own propellers, at minimum you need what's called a "test cell." On your test cell, you have an engine or motor hooked up to thrust and torque sensors so you can put different propellers on them and test them out. Dropping the propeller won't provide you with much useful data at all.
   
   If you have a lot of money, you want your test cell to be in a wind tunnel. Static propeller tests usually stall the propeller, so you won't get much good data out of it.

This question gets asked all the time on this sub. I did a search for the term books and compiled this list from the dozens of previous answers:

How to Read the Solar System: A Guide to the Stars and Planets by Christ North and Paul Abel.


A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson.


A Universe from Nothing: Why There is Something Rather than Nothing by Lawrence Krauss.


Cosmos by Carl Sagan.

Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space by Carl Sagan.


Foundations of Astrophysics by Barbara Ryden and Bradley Peterson.


Final Countdown: NASA and the End of the Space Shuttle Program by Pat Duggins.


An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth: What Going to Space Taught Me About Ingenuity, Determination, and Being Prepared for Anything by Chris Hadfield.


You Are Here: Around the World in 92 Minutes: Photographs from the International Space Station by Chris Hadfield.


Space Shuttle: The History of Developing the Space Transportation System by Dennis Jenkins.


Wings in Orbit: Scientific and Engineering Legacies of the Space Shuttle, 1971-2010 by Chapline, Hale, Lane, and Lula.


No Downlink: A Dramatic Narrative About the Challenger Accident and Our Time by Claus Jensen.


Voices from the Moon: Apollo Astronauts Describe Their Lunar Experiences by Andrew Chaikin.


A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts by Andrew Chaikin.


Breaking the Chains of Gravity: The Story of Spaceflight before NASA by Amy Teitel.


Moon Lander: How We Developed the Apollo Lunar Module by Thomas Kelly.


The Scientific Exploration of Venus by Fredric Taylor.


The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe.


Into the Black: The Extraordinary Untold Story of the First Flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia and the Astronauts Who Flew Her by Rowland White and Richard Truly.


An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics by Bradley Carroll and Dale Ostlie.


Rockets, Missiles, and Men in Space by Willy Ley.


Ignition!: An Informal History of Liquid Rocket Propellants by John Clark.


A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking.


Russia in Space by Anatoly Zak.


Rain Of Iron And Ice: The Very Real Threat Of Comet And Asteroid Bombardment by John Lewis.


Mining the Sky: Untold Riches From The Asteroids, Comets, And Planets by John Lewis.


Asteroid Mining: Wealth for the New Space Economy by John Lewis.


Coming of Age in the Milky Way by Timothy Ferris.


The Whole Shebang: A State of the Universe Report by Timothy Ferris.


Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandries by Neil deGrasse Tyson.


Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution by Neil deGrasse Tyson.


Rocket Men: The Epic Story of the First Men on the Moon by Craig Nelson.


The Martian by Andy Weir.


Packing for Mars:The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach.


The Overview Effect: Space Exploration and Human Evolution by Frank White.


Gravitation by Misner, Thorne, and Wheeler.


The Science of Interstellar by Kip Thorne.


Entering Space: An Astronaut’s Oddyssey by Joseph Allen.


International Reference Guide to Space Launch Systems by Hopkins, Hopkins, and Isakowitz.


The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality by Brian Greene.


How the Universe Got Its Spots: Diary of a Finite Time in a Finite Space by Janna Levin.


This New Ocean: The Story of the First Space Age by William Burrows.


The Last Man on the Moon by Eugene Cernan.


Failure is Not an Option: Mission Control from Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond by Eugene Cernan.


Apollo 13 by Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger.


The end

Unfortunately orbital mechanics gets really complex really quickly. Some good textbooks on the maths of spaceflight are

• Astronautics, by Ulrich Walter. Walter is a German astronaut, physicist and professor. If I remember correctly, he tries to make the physics of spaceflight interesting via pop culture references and stories from his personal experience.
  
  
• An Introduction to the Mathematics and Methods of Astrodynamics, by R. H. Battin. Battin's work in orbital mechanics is unparalled, but make no mistake: this is an advanced mathematics textbook in disguise.
  
  
• Orbital Mechanics, by J. E. Prussing and B. A. Conway. This book is dense: in 200 pages it summarizes what Walter needs 500+ to cover. It's my favourite reference text but, as a professor of mine once put it, it's better to read it after you've understood the subject thoroughly.
  
  Keep in mind that all of the above are textbooks at the advanced undergrad/first-year grad level.
  
  I'm not aware of simpler books about spaceflight. It would be grand to have something akin to Anderson's Introduction to Flight for space; if anyone's aware of such a book, I would be more than glad myself to discover it!

I know they're more convenient, but I would avoid online tests as any I found were unreliable and not nearly as good as practice/study guides. I would highly recommend these two books (links below). I studied both for a couple months and scored well on every section of the test (just got selected for RPA). The books are pretty different from one another but combined, prepared me well for the test.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1628454776/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1635301041/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Keep in mind there may be updated versions. I took the AFOQT last summer.

OTOH from my flight mechanics course 4 years ago;

What you need to consider is not torque but power. Very simply put, power required to make the plane go forward is P = VD with the speed V and D the drag force. You can estimate the drag from CL/CD plots.

EDIT: If can you can get your hands on a pdf or cheap copy of this book I'd recommend it, at least for the few 3 or 4 chapters. After that it gets pretty deep in advanced dynamics for someone with little background.

http://www.amazon.ca/Mechanics-Flight-Warren-F-Phillips/dp/0470539755

The engine needs to output higher* than this due to propeller efficiency.

That’s really sweet of you to do that for your boyfriend. Some universities have an “Intro to Aerospace Engineering” course where they use John Anderson’s Introduction to Flight textbook. It’s a really great read as it tries to sum up all of the field in one book while also being really enjoyable to read both actively and casually.

https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Flight-John-Anderson-Jr/dp/0078027675/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=introduction+to+flight&qid=1563239666&s=gateway&sprefix=introduction+to+flight&sr=8-1

It’s a little pricey (approx $130, but that’s normal for engineering textbooks), but I think it’s worth it for what it provides at a base level for a fresh aerospace student.

If you're designing missions (I'm assuming for academic purposes), the Payload Planners Guide will be the source of authority. This has loads expectations, payload adapter requirements, sizing, environmental controls, etc. ULA also publishes a User's Guide that you may find useful; this will contain quite a bit of other material on the vehicle as a whole that should certainly help nail down specifics.

As a starting reference for launch vehicle selection, I'd recommend the International Reference Guide to Space Launch Systems, if it hasn't already been consulted. The latest edition I'm aware of is slightly out of date, but there's probably no better compendium for easy reference between different vehicles. Makes putting together a thorough and convincing trade study very simple.

As one final point, it's quite common for payoads to not make up the full fairing volume. It is not advantageous to switch to a smaller fairing in most cases, usually because aerodynamic loads, vibrational and acoustic environments will all change, putting a large risk on the launch. Not to mention the added uncertainties in deployment and the costs of uniquely manufactured equipment.

If there's extra mass in the manifests, EELV standard payload adapters (which is what you'll be using on ULA launchers) can be fitted to launch secondary payloads, usually cubesats or smaller independent vehicles. Regardless, if there isn't, there's no reason to spend millions on new fairing design. And launcher efficiency is not really your concern as a primary payload anyway; so long as the vehicle meets your needs and you can pay for it.

There are several courses that ARO (usually) has, but ME exclusive program doesn't, such as Gas Dynamics, Low/High Speed Aerodynamics, Orbital Mechanics, Aircraft Stability, and Jet Propulsion. I based this statement from the school (CalPoly Pomona) that I went to. YMMV.

Book recommendations:

• Orbital Mechanics
  
• Gas Dynamics & High Speed Aerodynamics
  
• Flight Mechanics
  
• Jet Propulsion
  
• Spacecraft Design
  
• Rocket Propulsion
  
  Aerospace is broad subject, you haven't specified whether you're interested in structures, aerodynamics, flight mechanics, or propulsion. I gave you a broad list of selection to reflect that, although I assume you are more inclined toward Astronautics (Space) part of Aerospace instead of Aeronautics (Air); hence you posted your question in /r/space.

Interesting, I have this book. It's actually pretty good, although it is definitely aimed at breadth, and not depth. It goes over some basic principles, but the main thrust (hyuk hyuk) of the book is to discuss the properties of rocket plumes, themselves, and some of the analytical codes that are available to model them. It goes into decent coverage, but it is definitely a survey book. But for only $30, it's not a bad buy.

Amazon Link

I'd just like to point out that although the Bernoulli effect is secondary, it is in fact still very important. If thrust were the only force at play, then sailing faster than the wind would not be possible. Yet it theoretically is. Picture a properly tuned airfoil effectively tapping in to the internal energy of the fluid in which it moves. Moreover, the experienced sailor knows that optimal sail performance utilizes the residual air flow from the foresail to aid in inducing laminar flow around the main sail. That is why the physics is such that the mainsail is a more efficient sail per area, as the foresail aids in the lift of the mainsail by reducing turbulence. Sources: 1) A Manual of Sail Trim
and 2) Sail Power

You can definitely play with the S&C side of things (tail sizing, aileron sizing, flying wing, etc), but you'll have to write the codes yourself. A good place to start is Mechanics of Flight. I'm not a CFD guy, but I can tell you that it will be hard to quantify.

How big is the plane? It's a lot easier and cheaper) to use electric motors compared to nitromethane for most of the common r/c scale.

For flight dynamics, I've got Modern Flight Dynamics by Scmidt on my bookshelf. The book by Stengel looks pretty good too. I've got one of his other books called Optimal Control and Estimation that I like.



For structures of flight vehicles, I don't have any references I like on the subject unfortunately. The books I used for it in school were alright, but not great in my opinion. Lots of books on Amazon will let you have a preview, so you could skim a few there and then secure a copy from your library.

Okay, for sci-fi, you have to get The Culture series in. Put Player of Games face out.

I don't read a lot of space books, but Asteroid Hunter by Carrie Nugent is awesome. I mostly have recommendations for spaceflight and spaceflight history, and a lot of these come from listeners to my podcast, so all credit to them.

• Corona, America's first Satellite Program Amazon
  
• Digital Apollo MIT Books
  
• An Astronaut's Guide to Earth by Chris Hadfield (Amazon)
  
• Capture Dynamics and Chaotic Motions in Celestial Mechanics: With Applications to the Construction of Low Energy Transfers by Edward Belbruno (Amazon)
  
• Mission to Mars: My Vision for Space Exploration by Buzz Aldrin (Amazon)
  
• Red Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson (Part 1 on Amazon)
  
• Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War by Michael Neufeld (Amazon)
  
• Space Shuttle by Dennis R Jenkins (Amazon)
  
• The History Of Manned Space Flight by David Baker (Amazon)
  
• Saturn by Lawrie and Godwin (Amazon)
  
• Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13 by Lovell (Amazon)
  
• Failure Is Not an Option: Mission Control From Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond by Gene Kranz (Amazon)
  
• Space by James A Michener (Amazon)
  
• Encounter With Tiber by Buzz Aldrin and John Barnes (Amazon)
  
• Ascent to Orbit: A Scientific Autobiography by Arthur C Clark (Amazon)
  
• Fundamentals of Astrodynamics by Bate and White (Amazon)
  
• Space Cadet by Robert Heinlein (Amazon)

i got a book for my Aerospace class. Been studding it for a year and a half. The more I read this book the more it gets better. I know it's expensive, but I've enjoyed it.

https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Flight-John-Anderson-Jr/dp/0078027675/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1521233604&sr=8-1&keywords=anderson+introduction+flight

Have you read Asteroid Mining 101? It's by the Chief Scientist at Deep Space Industries and is a fantastic breakdown of the industry from a very technical and practical perspective. Closely related to that proposal and maybe helpful too.

one of the best books i've read is called "sail power" by Wallace ross??/

http://www.amazon.com/Sail-Power-Complete-Guide-Handling/dp/0394727150

The latest one i picked up is;
http://www.amazon.com/Keelboat-Sportsboat-Racing-Glyn-Charles/dp/1898660379/ref=sr_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1380591287&sr=1-9&keywords=keelboat

HEY! My research is mostly in FEM! If you have any specific questions, I can try to help you out. Although, most of my stuff deals with coding the method rather than the theoretical background, so I may not be that useful.

Here's the textbook we used.. My professor told me he preferred it because it wasn't as "math heavy." But we mostly used this for problem sets and reference for interpolation functions.

When I get around to it, I can compile my digital notes for the Ritz and Galerkin methods and send them to you. My professor gave us slides to fill out, so it may make it easier to follow.

Try "Understanding Space: An Introduction to Astronautics" by Jerry Jon Sellers. Great explanations of everything from orbital mechanics to rocket propulsion.

This is probably the 2nd time I've seen Woodward mentioned on reddit. It's about time he's got some exposure. If there's any chance of a breakthrough propulsion scheme that actually works, then my money is on Woodward.

He also wrote a book recently, if anyone is interested in the details of his propulsion scheme: Making Starships and Stargates

I can surely suggest you some books which cover a vast field of rocket science.

• Rocket Propulsion Elements by George P. Sutton, Oscar Biblarz
  
• Fundamentals of Astrodynamics by Roger R. Bate, Donald D. Mueller, Jerry E. White
  
• International Reference Guide to Space Launch Systems by S. Isakowitz, J. Hopkins, J. Hopkins Jr
  
• Elements of Propulsion: Gas Turbines and Rockets by J. Mattingly, H. von Ohain
  
  These are the same books which Elon musk used for self learning Rocket science.
  
  source: http://qr.ae/TUGfdA

Aerodynamics is Aerodynamics, whether we are looking at airplanes, helicopters, wind turbines, or race cars... they all act on the same principles.

I would recommend this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Fundamentals-Aerodynamics-Aeronautical-Aerospace-Engineering/dp/0073398101/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1342978963&sr=8-1&keywords=aerodynamics

This is the book I learned aerodynamics from, and it gives you great explanations. However, you're going to need to develop a mathematics background to understand even the most basic concepts, but you might be able to figure it out on a more qualitative level just by reading. It's not cheap, but you can look at other editions or international editions that will drive the price waay down.

Understanding Space is really easy to understand. http://www.amazon.com/LSC-Understanding-Space-Introduction-Astronautics/dp/0077230302

Maybe try reading https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnus_effect and if that’s insufficient find an aerodynamics textbook? I’ve heard good things about https://www.amazon.com/dp/1259129918/

I really like Sail Power by Wallace Ross. It will teach you almost everything that you can learn about sailing and sailboats while on dry land.

I really like John D. Anderson's Intro to Flight and Aerodynamics books.

You're looking for Orbital Mechanics/Astrodynamics. MIT has an Open Courseware class on it. Looks like they use
this book

Isn't it guaranteed by Noether's theorem?

McCulloch's blog is entertaining, if you haven't seen it.

I also have Woodward's book but haven't read it yet.

https://www.amazon.com/Theory-Wing-Sections-Aeronautical-Engineering/dp/0486605868/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=theory+of+wing+sections+abbott&qid=1572380480&sr=8-1

This book has an appendix with about 120 NACA airfoils with geometry and life/moment coefficients. Probably any other book would have them as well but that is one I have and its reasonable price.

Exactly. A handy-dandy book even exists for selecting such things!

https://www.amazon.com/Theory-Wing-Sections-Aeronautical-Engineering/dp/0486605868

AFOQT Study Guide 2017-2018: AFOQT Test Prep and Practice Test Questions for the Air Force Officer Qualifying Test https://www.amazon.com/dp/1635301041?ref=yo_pop_ma_swf

This is what was suggested to me

Ross, Sail Power

Marchaj, several books, and another

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKCK4lJLQHU

https://www.amazon.com/Fundamentals-Aerodynamics-John-Anderson-Jr/dp/0073398101

the wikipedia page. NASA learning website. and then https://www.amazon.com/Fundamentals-Aerodynamics-John-Anderson-Jr/dp/0073398101

(dont actually buy it, you can probably find the pdf online)

Buzz Aldrin has a 272 page answer to that question.

https://www.amazon.com/AFOQT-Study-Guide-2017-2018-Qualifying/dp/1635301041

Diverses méthodes pour calculer, une fois les conditions initiales données, où un engin spatial sera après un temps t. Ou si on sait qu'il doit aller d'un point P1 à un point P2 en un temps t, quel est son trajet. Et comment optimiser un trajet dans le système solaire. En bref, de l'astrodynamique

When I took plasma physics as an undergrad we used Chen's book. Pre-requisites would be a real E&M course (using vector calc) and some related knowledge of fluids.

He's known as GIThruster and Ron Stahl on NSF. Both banned. A Woodward crony. His MO is to plug pseudoscience books on Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/Making-Starships-Stargates-Interstellar-Transport/dp/1461456223

He completely blew up EmDrive thread 1.