1. Historical Developments Why Do Aerospace Vehicles Look
the Way They Do?
Flight and Space
© 2011 Project Lead The Way, Inc.

2. Historical Developments
PLTW Gateway
Unit 4 – Lesson 4.1 – History of Flight and Space
Engineering Contexts
We can look at designs of anything in terms of their context.
What made these objects the way they are?
Roman Aqueducts
Pyramids of Egypt
Nintendo DS
Everything is designed for a reason – context describes how something is used.

3. Historical Developments
PLTW Gateway
Unit 4 – Lesson 4.1 – History of Flight and Space
Things to Consider
What is going on in history?
What is the need?
What problems does the need create?
What customers will want to buy the
product?
How much money do they have?
What technology is needed to make it happen?
What are the resulting products?

4. Historical Developments
PLTW Gateway
Unit 4 – Lesson 4.1 – History of Flight and Space
Keep Asking “Why?”
Why do objects look the way they do?
What made them like that?
Let’s Look at Aerospace Vehicles

5. Why Would You Use a Seaplane?
Historical Developments
PLTW Gateway
Unit 4 – Lesson 4.1 – History of Flight and Space
Why Would You Use a Seaplane?
Land on water
Patrol
Fishing
Submarine hunting
What is unique about these aircraft?
Why aren’t these components on all aircraft?
Wouldn’t it be nice to always have the option to land on water?

6. Why Would You Use a Helicopter?
Historical Developments
PLTW Gateway
Unit 4 – Lesson 4.1 – History of Flight and Space
Why Would You Use a Helicopter?
Land and take off vertically
Saving lives
Delivering supplies
Maintaining law and order
Maneuvering into small locations
What is unique about these aircraft?
Why can’t all aircraft do this?
Wouldn’t it be nice to always have the option to land vertically?

7. Why Would You Use a Sailplane?
Historical Developments
PLTW Gateway
Unit 4 – Lesson 4.1 – History of Flight and Space
Why Would You Use a Sailplane?
No motor
Recreation
Assault (WWII assault gliders)
Returning space shuttles
What is unique about these aircraft?
Why can’t all aircraft do this?

8. Why Would You Use an Airship?
Historical Developments
PLTW Gateway
Unit 4 – Lesson 4.1 – History of Flight and Space
Why Would You Use an Airship?
Lighter-than-air gases are added to a big bag to provide lift
Carry large payloads
Fly quietly
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What is unique about these aircraft?
Why can’t all aircraft do this?

9. Why Would You Use a Rocket?
Historical Developments
PLTW Gateway
Unit 4 – Lesson 4.1 – History of Flight and Space
Why Would You Use a Rocket?
High speed and high power transportation both within the Earth’s atmosphere and in space
Military
Research
Launching probes and satellites
Space travel
What is unique about these aircraft?
Why can’t all aircraft do this?

10. Why Would You Use a Hot Air Balloon?
Historical Developments
PLTW Gateway
Unit 4 – Lesson 4.1 – History of Flight and Space
Why Would You Use a Hot Air Balloon?
Complete slide with class discussion. Some topics that should be discussed include:
Subject to the winds
No propulsion system
Weather balloons
Recreation and adventure

11. Why Would You Use an Airplane?
Historical Developments
PLTW Gateway
Unit 4 – Lesson 4.1 – History of Flight and Space
Why Would You Use an Airplane?
Complete slide with class discussion. Some topics that should be discussed include:
Transport people, animals, mail and goods long distances faster.

12. Why Would You Use a Rocket or Space Shuttle?
Historical Developments
PLTW Gateway
Unit 4 – Lesson 4.1 – History of Flight and Space
Why Would You Use a Rocket or Space Shuttle?
Complete slide with class discussion. Some topics that should be discussed include:
Propulsion requires combustion, which needs air (oxidizer).
Air is not available at high altitudes and in space. You need to carry it with you.

13. Why Would You Use an Unmanned Aerospace Vehicle (UAV)?
Historical Developments
PLTW Gateway
Unit 4 – Lesson 4.1 – History of Flight and Space
Why Would You Use an Unmanned Aerospace Vehicle (UAV)?
Complete slide with class discussion. Some topics that should be discussed include:
Payload Carriage into low earth orbit and space.
How is this different than manned space flight? What would you need to do differently?

14. Historical Developments
PLTW Gateway
Unit 4 – Lesson 4.1 – History of Flight and Space
Image Resources
Lockheed Martin. (2009). Products. Retrieved June 3, 2009, from
Microsoft, Inc. (2009). Clip art. Retrieved June 4, 2009, from