The Space Engineering (SE) Department allows participants to gain hands-on experience in all stages of the systems engineering process of space missions at multiple levels, from the simplest to the most complex. Building on the knowledge gained during the core lectures related to space engineering, emphasis is placed on understanding each level of system design, integration, and testing as complexity increases from components to subsystems, to spacecraft, to the space mission, and eventually to entire space programs.

Marking the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing, each of the activities of the department will connect with one of the mission phases required for such a complex exploration mission to a different celestial body. Throughout the department, participants will work on hands-on projects covering from preliminary design of landing systems, to remote operations of rovers. Participants will also have the opportunity to undertake a major project that has become a trademark of ISU: the design, construction, testing, and launch of a model rocket to meet a set of flight requirements, including the safe retrieval of its payload. This project will allow the participants an opportunity to implement all aspects of the system engineering process in the conception, design, integration, and operation of a simulated spacecraft.

At the end of the department time, the participants should be able to:
• Design, simulate, manufacture, integrate, test, and launch a model rocket - skills that can be extended to any other complex system.
• Justify preliminary design decisions for a particular subsystem of a spacecraft, and predict how different design parameters affect other subsystems.
• Estimate how the space environment affects engineering solutions.
• Present and defend a research project in front of a technical audience.