HET610 - Studies in Space Exploration
Credit Points:12.5 Duration & Workload:
One semester, equivalent to a 5 contact hour per week lecture course Prerequisites:
HET602 Exploring the Solar System, introductory tertiary-level mathematics & physics (or equivalent) Aims:
This unit will commence with an introductory section on the basic principles and issues and science goals in space exploration, then trace its history and development with particular reference to manned versus unmanned space exploration, spacecraft design, launch and navigation, imaging and remote sensing. Public perception of space science and analysis of the costs, risks & benefits of space exploration will be discussed with special reference to ethical and legal implications of topics such as the use of radioisotope fuel sources, 'space junk' and mining rights in space. Content:
- Ground-based space exploration: telescopes, detectors, limitations of ground-based observations
- Unmanned space exploration: orbiting observatories, planetary missions, observing asteroids, comets, the sun, to the heliopause and beyond
- People in space: manned versus robotic missions, space stations, colonisation and terraforming
- Evolution of human space flight: from fireworks to the V-2 rocket, Sputnik to Gagarin, to the Moon or bust, from Skylab to the Space Station, surviving, living and working in space, space flight in the future
- Spacecraft design, launch and navigation: a probe for every purpose, lift-off and boosters, docking and course correction, navigating in space, basic orbital mechanics and calculations, landing on Earth, landing on other solar system bodies
- Imaging and remote sensing: instrumentation, telemetry, communication, space observatories, data processing & manipulation
- Fuelling interplanetary missions: energy sources & techniques used in past, present & planned space missions, designs & intended uses, relative benefits & risks, risk analysis, ethics
- Costs, risks and benefits - scientific, legal and ethical dimensions: the science goals, public perception, legal implications and ethical considerations, space exploration & the press, the public understanding of science, the future of space exploration
This unit will be presented in on-line delivery mode, with contact via newsgroup and e-mail. Assessment Method:
Assessable newsgroup contributions, assignments and project. Textbook:
For information about the textbook, follow this link