Yes it is, but real science is based upon:
1. Observation of the real world,
2. Formulation of hypotheses which attempt to explain those observations,
3. Experimentation, which is designed to test the validity of those hypotheses, rendering objective and duplicatable results which prove or falsify said hypotheses.
That,in a nutshell, is the scientific method, which is the only proven path to understanding the truth of our physical universe.
Engineering (applied science) can only operate or build upon proven scientific principles.
Unfortunately, the quasi religion of scientism holds sway over much of our accepted cosmology, which is rooted in purely theoretical mathematics, and NOT direct observations and empirical evidence. As a result, modern cosmologists have been forced to invent ever stranger explanations for the failures of the Standard Model to predict inconvenient observations that falsify that theory.
-------------------
Yes it is
------------------------
[Irrelevant rant deleted]
Thank you for agreeing that civilization as we know it is based on science. It strikes me as churlish when the benefactors of something delight in attacking it. But, there you go.