Engineering Engineering has been one of the most rapidly developing fields in the past half-century, as humans have been able to successfully employ and utilize simple ideas in mechanics to create ingenious, aweinspiring, breath-taking structures that provide evidence for the height human civilization has reached. There are tens, if not hundreds, of engineering projects which have surpassed all human boundaries, however, for the case of this essay, I believe that the greatest engineering achievement of the past 50 years is the International Space Station, as it encompasses numerous facets of engineering, that is mainly aeronautical and astronautical engineering, but also software, mechanical and civil engineering. The International Space Station (ISS) is an artificial satellite launched in 1998 through the cooperation of numerous countries. More specifically, the ISS is a massive, 420-tonne structure that orbits Earth at a great speed, making 16 orbits of the Earth in one day. In addition to this, it is controlled by over 50 computers, and about 2.3 million lines of computer program code have been written to control the operation of the ISS, showing how the ISS is founded on numerous aspects of software engineering. Furthermore, the ISS is given all its vital supplies through other spaceships, and many astronauts on the ISS make frequent spacewalks, in order to repair several mechanical parts of the station. Consequently, it is evident that an engineering background is necessary for astronauts, while the ISS could not have functioned if it was not for advancements in all fields of engineering. Principles from aerospace engineering, as well as software engineering have been extensively applied in the creation and maintenance of the ISS. For instance, engineers had to offer thought on how the ISS would reach escape velocity and begin its repeating orbit of Earth. Additionally, engineers had to be mindful of the fact that while in orbit, the gravitational strength on the ISS would be nullified, so careful design of both internal and external mechanical parts was required. Besides this, software engineers had to collaborate to create an insanely large computer program that governs all the functions of the ISS. Through the numerous digital parts, the ISS can communicate effectively with Earth, while its efficacy in research can be drastically improved. Overall the ISS is a marvel of engineering, not only due to its intricate design, but also because of its countless applications. In particular, the ISS serves as a science research laboratory, as numerous experiments are made to further knowledge in the fields of biology, chemistry, medicine, physics as well as astronomy. That is to say that experiments can reveal the response of living organisms to an atmosphere of microgravity, as well as increase humanity’s understanding of the operations of the universe, by having systems that detect dark matter. Besides this, the ISS, along with a few other satellites, offers the world numerous digital applications, such as the Global Positioning System (GPS) capability, satellite images, WiFi, and many more connectivity features. Selectively, there are several magnificent marvels of engineering that have been created in the past five decades, nevertheless the ISS is pinnacle of modern engineering. Subsequently, the future of engineering is bright, and it is expected that further advancements will be made in the fields of engineering, as there are myriads of other problems that engineering must solve.
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