ACAN COURSE ID: EVN*E/078*01                         UPDATED 7 FEBRUARY 2006



Online at: http://SpacecraftKits.com/acan/syllabus.html

Basics of Interplanetary Flight

Course Syllabus





General Description

This course syllabus comprises:

  1. A breakdown of topics that are the nominal focus for each of seven 3-hour course sessions mapped to specific learning objectives,

  2. A checklist of the specific learning objectives to be addressed,

  3. A description of the approach to individual projects, and

  4. A description of intended use of the course's reference text and glossary.

  5. A discussion of instructional methods, testing and evaluation.
In bringing the basics of interplanetary flight to the Art Center student, this course will make optimum use of the inspiring facilities of Art Center at Night. This will include a Studio Room for most presentations and demonstrations; the Wind Tunnel room for impromptu 200-foot wide scale models of our Solar System and of the Heliosphere; and for a showing of student projects; the Rooftop Patio for a planet-viewing session; the Board Conference Room for a presentation by a leading planetary scientist. Finally, Art Center Web Space, available to course participants, will be employed to provide class schedules and updates, study assignments, notes and session transcripts, seek feedback from participants, and to carry on a dialog online between the weekly sessions.



(1) Nominal Course Session Breakdown

In practice, topics and objectives may be swapped around among sessions. This approach accommodates questions and discussions as they arise. The instructor will make such choices during course sessions to the extent that they can be implemented without causing confusion among the participants. By the end of the 7-session course, all the topics will have been addressed, and all the objectives in the checklist will nominally be met.

The breakdown below has been adjusted to accomodate availability in Spring 2006 of the Wind Tunnel, Rooftop Patio, and 230 Conference Room, and for the Guest Speakers' availability. Note: Planet spotting and viewing on the Rooftop Patio is of course dependant of the weather as well as the availability of the Rooftop Patio, and so may move around among the sessions called out below.

  • SESSION 1     (January 19, 2006)

    LOCATION: STUDIO ROOM 223 HRS 1 & 3, 230 CONFERENCE ROOM HR 2

    CONTENT:

    • Course Introduction
    • The worlds we know: The Sun and the planets of our solar system
    • The heliosphere
    • The worlds we don't know: Estrasolar planets that have been discovered
    • What are the structures and temperatures in interplanetary space?
    • Location, location, location! What's the scale of where we live?
    • Activity: Planning for next session's scale models in Wind Tunnel

    • Guest speaker: Dan Goods, JPL's Artist in Residence

  • SESSION 2     (January 26, 2006)

    LOCATION: STUDIO ROOM HRS 1 & 3; WIND-TUNNEL ROOM HR 2

    CONTENT:

    • Activity: Deploy impromptu scale model of solar system
    • The Key to Interplanetary Flight
    • The diversity of the planets & moons, Part 1
    • The unexpected diversity among the moons of the planets
      • (Is there life in Europa's warm saltwater ocean?)
    • Reference systems for making sense of space and time
    • Comets and asteroids and meteors oh my!
    • The mysterious "dark stuff" they brought to earth - life's broth?

  • SESSION 3     (February 2, 2006)

    LOCATION: STUDIO ROOM

    CONTENT:

    • Ellipses and orbits, gravitation and tidal forces
    • Trajectories for travel among the planets
    • Motion in Interplanetary Space - movie version / real version
    • Gravity assist
    • The diversity of the planets & moons, Part 2
    • Useful orbits around your choice of planet
    • The Lagrange "hover" points
    • Activity: Gravity assist simulation
    • Activity: forward- and back-scattered light experiment

  • SESSION 4     (February 9, 2006)

    LOCATION: CONFERENCE ROOM

    CONTENT:

    • The diversity of the planets & moons, Part 3
    • How it all came to be
    • Types of spacecraft and launch vehicles
    • Onboard systems
    • Science Instruments
    • A closer look at some missions
    • Kinds of data: science, engineering, navigation
    • Publishing your findings
    • Activity: Rooftop planet spotting & viewing, weather permitting

    • Guest speaker: Dr. Kevin Grazier, Planetary Scientist, Entertainment Industry Contact

  • SESSION 5     (February 16, 2006)

    LOCATION: STUDIO ROOM HRS 1 & 3; ROOFTOP HR 2

    CONTENT:

    • Electromagnetics and new senses
    • The spectrum, emitters and absorbers
    • Refraction, reflection, and skipping stones
    • Doppler, phase
    • Spectroscopy: knowledge at a distance
    • Activity: viewing familiar objects in the infra-red
    • Activity: Rooftop planet spotting & viewing, weather permitting

    • Guest speaker: Dr. Michelle Thaller, Astronomer, astrophysicist, Spitzer Infrared Telescope Facility

  • SESSION 6     (February 23, 2006)

    LOCATION: STUDIO ROOM

    CONTENT:

    • How a NASA mission takes shape
    • Mission phases: launch, cruise, encounter, wrapup
    • Telecommunications
    • Symbols and bits
    • Telemetry, beacons
    • The Deep Space Network
    • Nav: Where am I going and how do I change course?
    • Activity: bits to symbols to bits across a distance
    • Activity: Planning for next session's display of individual projects

  • SESSION 7     (March 2, 2006)

    LOCATION: WIND-TUNNEL ROOM HR 1+; STUDIO ROOM FOR REMAINDER OF SESSION

    NOTE: FIRST HOUR OPEN TO FACULTY, FRIENDS, FAMILIES, STUDENTS, PUBLIC.

    CONTENT:

    • Activity: Display of individual projects
    • Latest results from a selection of current mission operations
    • Course review and evaluation



(2) Checklist of Specific Objectives

During the course as a whole, each participant will grasp each of the specific learning objectives listed in the checklist. Click below for the list. For each listed objective, each participant is expected to obtain at minimum an intuitive grasp of understanding so that s/he can explain it to others, at least to the level described in the text. The checklist of objectives is divided into seven sections, mapping to a nominal content for each session.

Link to Objectives Checklist

The objectives-checklist approach lends itself to participants evaluating their performance and their confidence in grasp of the material. A hardcopy of the list will be given to each course participant with a place for the individual participant to record his or her perceptions regarding, for example:

  1. How new is this to me, 0 - 10
  2. How well do I understand, 0 - 10
  3. How well could I explain it to someone, 0 - 10
  4. Comments

Link to Objectives Self-Evaluation List



(3) Individual Projects

Each participant is encouraged to design one original project to be completed by the end of the course, to discuss it during conception and development with the instructor (and perhaps other faculty) as advisor(s), to research it and complete it, and to exhibit it at the final session to a general audience including faculty, friends, family, students, and the general public. Alternatively, a participant might choose to collaborate with another participant or two on one such project. Participants may do some work, as appropriate, on their projects during studio-room sessions during the course.

Disposition of the project materials after the show will conform to Art Center's policy and stipulations.

Projects to be envisioned and specified by participants. While a participant will most likely invent a unique expression of some concept or experience or impression, etc. related to interplanetary flight, some possible themes for projects might include something like one or more of the following:

  • A set of posters and/or other media and/or campaign inviting the audience to the 7th-week show of participants' projects.

  • A presentation in some media, effectively "Connecting the Public to Space Exploration." Media could be a website, a poster set, a booklet, a demonstration, etc.

  • A functioning Gravity Assist Mechanical Simulator.

  • An assembled spacecraft scale model with illustrative media.

  • Simulation of atmospheric or ring occultation experiments using lasers as an analogy to radio waves.

  • Demonstration of the Doppler effect.

  • Demonstration of the effect of focusing sound waves as an analogy for focusing radio waves.

  • A display of the difference between backscatter and forward scatter illustrating its relevance to space exploration.

  • Scale model of the solar system, or of the heliosphere, including an automated "crawler" which moves at a rate illustrating the speed of light to scale.

  • Display of existing websites related to interplanetary flight, with quick summaries and/or icons of each site.

  • Imprinted t-shirts.

  • Speculative view into other-worldly lifeforms and habitats.

  • A realistic (or a speculative) view of a real (or a contrived) interplanetary operation in progress.

  • Political expressions relating to interplanetary exploration.

  • Realtime display of live data as it is coming in from Mars or Saturn, etc.

(4) Course Text and Glossary

The text to be followed during this course, The Basics of Space Flight, is available online. Online use is preferred over hardcopy use, so that the participant can explore the many hyperlinks it contains, as needed to establish understanding, or to dig more deeply into subjects of individual interest. Another advantage of online use is that the online text is updated and corrected once in a while.

Learning new concepts goes hand-in-hand with learning new jargon. Hardcopy lists of terms will be provided each participant to help learn the new language. The list will be derived from the glossary in the text.



(5) Instructional Methods, Testing & Evaluation

The specific concepts enumerated in the checklist will be conveyed using an appropriate mix of lecture, ongoing Q&A, brainstorm, quick group discussions, one or two "guest star" appearances, in-class demonstrations, skillful use of media.

Testing is entirely optional for the participants, and if undertaken, will be accomplished outside the course session hours. The only testing offered will be the quizzes in the text. Participants will be encouraged to share their testing results, and their perceptions of the specific objectives on the checklist, with the instructor and with other participants.

THIS PAGE WAS UPDATED GMT JANUARY 13, 2006