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May 9,2019,Philippines—Although it is one of the newest branches of engineering with beginnings dating back only to late 19th century, aerospace engineering is probably the most advanced and is the most involved branch in designing the future. In fact, many would probably consider aerospace engineering as the key to the future.

Flying cars, vacations to Mars, establishment of human colonies on other planets, and more—aerospace engineering, concerned with designing and building any and every machine that flies within and outside Earth, would hold the responsibility for all of these futuristic feats when they finally exist.

However, can we really expect to see such advanced feats become a reality in the near future? Does the aerospace industry have the skill and expertise to do it? What can we actually expect from the future of aerospace engineering?

Current capabilities of aerospace engineering

Majority of the industry is currently focused on redesigning planes to cause less noise pollution and have better fuel efficiency. One of the most recent projects that attempted to do this is Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) first-ever plane with no moving parts just last year. Instead of turbines and propellers, the aircraft is powered by ionic wind propulsion systems which do not depend on fossil fuels to fly, and are completely silent.

Furthermore, model-based systems engineering (MBSE) is taking off in aerospace engineering and system integration workflows worldwide with the goal of modernization in order to remain competitive amidst the ever-fierce global manufacturing. The industry is also exploring more creative and amusing aerospace innovations with one of which, the 1,050-horsepower Gravity jet suit which is capable of flying for a maximum of 10 minutes, at an altitude limit of 12,000 feet and current speed record of 32 miles per hour.

However, as amazing as the three innovations listed above are, they are not the best innovation of aerospace engineering for the year 2018 just yet.

Officially the fastest thing ever made by humans with a top speed of 430,000 miles per hour, National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Parker Solar Probe was launched last year on a seven-year mission to fly through corona, the outermost atmosphere of the Sun, as close as 3.8 million miles to its surface. The revolutionary spacecraft, about the size of a small car, is protected from the Sun’s heat by a 4.5-inch thick carbon-composite shield which can keep the craft cool despite outside temperatures that reach nearly 1,377 C. This feat will help not only the whole industry but the whole mankind to further understand our own star as well as other existing stars throughout the universe.

Demand for aerospace engineering

According to a 2016 survey done by QS Top Universities, a publisher of university rankings by Quacquarelli Symonds, aerospace engineering is estimated to have a global demand for 27,000 new passenger planes and 40,000 commercial helicopters between 2013 and 2031, as well as generate high-salary jobs, making it the second most in demand engineering job in the future. However, due to the increase reliance on automated processes and other more new technologies for increased efficiency and other benefits, global manufacturing jobs, including those in the aerospace industry, now require a more advanced knowledge and higher skill than before.

Eighty percent of manufacturers surveyed by Accenture for their 2014 Manufacturing Skills and Training Study reported a moderate to severe shortage in highly skilled manufacturing resources. Additionally, the Aviation Week’s Workforce Report in 2017 also showed that the average age of the engineering workforce that year was 46 years old, and only 22.3% of the employees were aged 35 years and younger.

Fortunately, despite the predicted skills gap due to rapid technological advancements and approaching retirement of the majority of the industry, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics still predicts that the employment of aerospace engineers will grow 6% from 2016 to 2026, about as fast as the average for all occupations.

Knowing what the industry is capable of doing today, along with the prediction of steady employment growth, it is not a wild guess that aerospace engineering will continue to be innovative and make even greater things in the future. Just more effort on recruiting and enticing younger engineers to work for aerospace engineering, and we might get closer to the future of taking a vacation to Mars!