Space Systems Engineering
MIT's astronautical capstone course walks a class through a full satellite project using a Conceive-Design-Implement-Operate model spread across three semesters. Students first draft a detailed system design, then build the hardware, then test and operate it in its intended environment. The featured project, EMFFORCE, extends an earlier effort called SPHERES and aims to demonstrate an electromagnetically controlled array of formation-flying satellites. The class splits into subsystem teams covering power, metrology, and structures, so the materials cover both the engineering content and the team management side of running a real spacecraft program. OCW provides the course's lecture notes, project documents, and assignments from the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, giving a rare look at how a hands-on aerospace capstone is actually run from concept through operation.