Abstract:

Problem based learning constitutes one of the central aspects of the new educational model for undergraduate students at Tecnológico de Monterrey. Professional careers at Tecnológico de Monterrey under this new model consist of eight semesters, where the first year, represents an exploration stage. Each semester is organized into three periods of five weeks where students are enrolled in courses and workshops that are focused on solving a particular challenging situation. During the early stage of the first semester, students are enrolled in a set of five different challenges that have a duration of one week. These workshops are intended to motivate the students on different aspects of engineering and science. The present work is dedicated to the basics of Celestial Mechanics, which is entirely new to most of high school graduates. The main motivation of this one-week workshop, consists of providing the students with introductory concepts on spaceflight, such as translunar injection (TLI), lunar orbit insertion (LOI), thrust needed (∆v_TLI, ∆v_LOI) for prograde and retrograde propulsions and total flight times. The students were organized in teams of four members, where each team was responsible for providing the main orbital parameters to complete a successful orbital insertion. Students were free to calculate the orbital parameters needed for a successful rendezvous with any celestial body of the solar system. Students presented their solutions, and a survey on their learning and motivation in new areas of science such as spaceflight dynamics, was applied at the end of this workshop.

Keywords:

Problem based learning, Tec21, Spaceflight dynamics.