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USC VITERBI SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING

Dr. Michael Kezirian

Adjunct Professor of Astronautics Practice

Shaping the Next Generation of Engineers at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering

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USC Astronautical Engineering Master’s Program

USC Viterbi’s Astronautical Engineering graduate program prepares engineers to design, analyze, and operate space systems through advanced technical coursework and hands-on, mission-oriented learning. Within the program, students can select the Area of Concentration: Safety of Space Systems, which emphasizes standards-informed, real-world practices in system safety, reliability, human factors, and operational safety to support mission success and protect crews and the public.

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Currently offered courses
(taught by Prof. Kezirian):

ASTE 529

Safety of Space Systems and Space Missions

This course introduces the principles and practice of space system safety and human-rating certification. Students learn how crewed space systems are designed and certified to accommodate human needs, effectively use human capabilities, control hazards with sufficient certainty for safe operations, and—where practical—provide the ability to recover the crew from hazardous situations. The course examines NASA’s human-rating certification framework and related technical requirements, including standards applied to visiting vehicles that dock with the International Space Station.

 

Through a systems-engineering perspective, the course teaches the methodologies and analyses used to certify spacecraft vehicles and missions. Technical engineers and program managers with a solid engineering foundation will develop practical approaches to understanding, designing, and certifying space missions. While grounded in five decades of human spaceflight experience, the concepts and tools are equally applicable to uncrewed scientific and communications satellite programs.

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Offered Spring 2026

ASTE 526

Space Sustainability and Space Traffic Management

(based on development course, ASTE 599 SAFETY OF SPACE OPERATIONS)

The astronautical engineering course focuses the risks of orbital and suborbital operations, the regulatory requirements for managing these risks, and the technology to implement the risk management regime.

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The first part of the course explores on-orbit risk management.  The course will consider environmental hazards, specifically the threats posed by micrometeoroid and orbital debris.  It will also explore key issues of space traffic management and space situational awareness, critical to the operation of spacecraft and constellations of spacecraft working collectively.  In addition, the course will cover the operational issues association with extravehicular activity.

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The second part of the course addresses launch and reentry risks. It begins with introducing the engineering basics associated with understanding, analyzing, and managing these risks. Important elements of this include understanding risk measures, risk drivers and the levels of fidelity of data development and analysis that may be required in order to ensure operations are “safe-enough”. The course considers characterizing sources of risks (normal vehicle operations, vehicle malfunctions), resulting hazards (debris – inert and explosive), populations and assets at risk, propagation of hazards to populations at risk, quantifying risk and designing risk mitigation strategies, as needed.

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Next Offered Spring 2027

Former (USC) Courses

  • AME 483 – Spacecraft Dynamics (Undergraduate)

  • CHE 472 Polymer Science and Engineering (Undergraduate)

  • CHE 572 Polymer Science and Engineering (Graduate)

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