Astronautical Engineering
General Information Department of Astronautical Engineering (AE) that aims to prepare students for the design, control, analysis, testing and operation of aerospace systems was established on March 3rd, 1983. It is currently the first and only department in Turkey delivering an education in Astronautical Engineering. Since its establishment the department has over 640 graduates with the Bachelor of Science degree in Astronautical Engineering.
Astronautical Engineering Department has been involved in high technology research and education, contributing to the scientific knowledge in national and international levels. With the increased interest in space technologies new decisions have been made by the government to support industry and research establishments including universities to carry out research, design and development studies on space technology. The AE department with its experience in Astronautical Engineering education has well taken this initiative and quickly started a pico-satellite design and development project which was supported by the University and (TÜBİTAK).
Within the concept of CubeSat Project a picosatellite with dimensions of 10cm x 10cm x 10cm was developed and sent to space in 23rd September 2009 by Istanbul Technical University, while achieving the goal of being the first university satellite of Turkey. Then, a protocol was signed with TURKSAT, national satellite operator for collaboration on building a nano satellite which was placed into orbit on April 26, 2013. Currently, another project is pursued to develop a 3U platform to house an industrial X band transmitter. Moreover, the public is continuously informed about the developments in the Laboratory on space technology applications through various media resources and seminars.
The mission, educational objectives, student outcomes, and annual statistics statements of the Astronautical Engineering Department is posted at http://faa.itu.edu.tr/Icerik.aspx?sid=8415.
Student Admission
Admission to the department is controlled by the Student Selection and Placement Center (ÖSYM), which is affiliated to the Higher Education Council (YÖK).
Students accepted to the program can be divided into five categories:
1)Regular high school or technical and vocationally oriented high school graduates.
2)The first ranking graduates of high schools.
3)Foreign students.
4)Transfer students from different engineering programs at ITU and other domestic and foreign universities.
5)Students of other engineering programs at ITU pursuing double major in Aeronautical Engineering.
Regular high school or technical and vocationally oriented high school graduates are accepted to the program through a nationwide University Entrance Examination (ÖSS), which is performed in two successive stages every year in March and June. The examination aims to measure the verbal and the quantitative abilities of the candidates and is administered by the Student Selection and Placement Center (ÖSYM), which is affiliated with the Higher Education Council (YÖK). Candidates are essentially evaluated on basis of their performance in the examinations together with their academic achievement (grade-point averages) in high school. The effective scores of the candidates reflect not only their selection examination scores but also their grade point averages at high school graduation. The candidates are placed in the higher education programs that are the highest on their list of preferences, if compatible with their scores.
The department has a limited number of quota for foreign students which is announced by the Student Selection and Placement Center (ÖSYM). The foreign students who wish to enroll in the program should have to meet the criteria outlined by the Higher Education Council of Turkey at:
http://www.yok.gov.tr/web/guest/yurt-disindan-kabul-edilecek-ogrenci-kontenjanlariand Application Conditions to Undergraduate Level Programs at
http://www.sis.itu.edu.tr/eng/foreign/ .
International Equivalence
The Astronautical Engineering program of the department is recognized as "Substantially Equivalent" to ABET accredited programs in the US in 2004.
International Relations
The table gives the summary of the figures for transfer students of all kind for the last 5 years.
Transfer Students for Past Five Academic Years |
| Year | Other University | Two-Year Institutes | Within ITU | ERASMUS |
| Transfer | Double Major | Minor | Incoming | Outgoing |
| 2015 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 8 |
| 2014 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 8 |
| 2013 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| 2012 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 2011 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Employment Opportunities
| TUSAŞ Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) |
| TUSAŞ Turkish Engine Industries (TEI) |
| ROKETSAN |
| ASELSAN |
| HAVELSAN |
| ALP Aviation |
| GE Aviation |
| Undersecretariat for Defense Industries |
| THY Technic Aircraft MRO |
| My Technic Aircraft MRO |
| ONUR Airlines |
| Free Bird Airlines |
| Sun Express Airlines |
| Turkish Civil Aviation Authority |
| TÜBİTAK-SAGE Defense Industry Research and Development Institute |
| TÜBİTAK Space Technologies Research Institute |
| Altınay Aerospace and Advanced Technologies Inc. |
| VESTEL Defense Industries Inc. |
| KALE Aviation |
| FIGES |
| Army 1st Air Supply and Maintenance Center |
| Army 2nd Air Supply and Maintenance Center |
| Army 5th Main Maintenance Center
|
Student Activities
For the last couple of years the teams and their participations are:
| ATA Unmanned Air Vehicle Team | AIAA DBF |
| ITU ARISAT | CanSat Competition of AAS and AIAA |
| ITU Uyari Rocket Useful Load Team | CanSat Competitions of AIAA USA LEEM (Laboratorio para Experimentacion en Espacio y Microgravedad), Spain |
| UUMK Rocket Useful Load Team | CanSat Competitions of AIAA, Texas, USA |
| Sci-X Team | SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Design Competition |
| Pars Rocket Team | Experimental Sounding Rocket |
| Lagari Thrust Sounding Rocket Team | |
| Astronautical Engineering ‘Student Laboratory’ Facilities | | Name | Room No. | Area (m2) | Function | | Trisonic Research Laboratory (Student Instructional Lab) | TRL Building | 2000 | Fluid Dynamics (Student & Research) | | Composites and Structures Laboratory | UUBF | 500 | (Student& Research) | | Controls and Avionics Laboratory | UUBF 312a,b,c
319 | 130 | Controls and Avionics, Applied Aerospace GNC (Student & Research) | | Space Systems Design and Testing Laboratory | UUBF | 130 | (Student& Research) | | Model Airplane Laboratory | UUBF 313, 314 | 130 | Unmanned Aircraft Vehicle Design | | Machine Shop | TRL Building | 200 | Provides Support to Research and Teaching Experimental Activities | | 
Astronautical Engineering ‘Research Laboratory’ Facilities | | Name of the Lab. | Room No. | Area (m2) | Function | | Computational Engineering (CFD) Laboratory
(HEMLAB) | UUBF | 65 | (Research) | | High Performance Computing and Virtual Reality Lab | UUBF | 70 | (Research) | | Reverse Engineering Laboratory | UUBF | 18 | (Research) | | Combustion Laboratory | TRL
Building | 55 | (Research) | | Small Satellites Communication Laboratory | UUBF | 25 | (Research) | | |
Projects
Project are mentioned in laboratories section.
Contact
Emeritus
DAYBELGE, Umur
DELALE, Can Fuat
GÜLÇAT, Ülgen
MERİÇ, R. Alsan