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Education, Space Systems

A Space Technology course in MOOC competition

The MOOC Production Fellowship competition will provide 25000 Euro to each of the ten winning MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) programs out of the 200 that have entered. The winners will be determined by online voting. Anyone may vote for the contestants until May 23rd. The winning courses will be offered for free at the iversity online learning site.

I received a message from Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Berlin, Institute of Technology about their  Space Technology  entry in the competition. The course has no prerequisites “other than a basic understanding of maths”.

The course “Space Technology” covers the fundamentals of space engineering, as well as further related subjects like space law, space politics or management of a space project.

At first, a brief introduction of our solar system and the space environment will give an idea about the destination space. On a trip to space, one has to expect an extremely harsh environment with vacuum, zero-gravity, deadly radiation, micrometeoroids and extreme temperatures. Still, space engineering enables spacecraft and humans to survive under these conditions.

Most of today’s space applications are based on satellites. Therefore, a focus will be set on satellites and their subsystems. Here, subjects like mechanical structures, thermal control, electrical power systems, attitude determination and control, data management and communications will be introduced using a mixture of theory and real mission examples.

One of the most fascinating sectors of space technology is human space flight. A section will be devoted to human spaceflight. In this section several topics like life support systems, astronaut training and space stations will be addressed.

Continue…

This video also describes the course:

Contests and Games, DIY space, Education

Competing in the International Space Apps Challenge

I recently pointed here to the International Space Apps Challenge  program, which aims to encourage “collaborative problem solving with a goal of producing relevant open-source solutions to address global needs applicable to both life on Earth and life in space”.  Stephen Murphey interviewed one of the competitors, Pablo Carranza Vélez, about his project, which involved “using the Raspberry Pi to create a space worth redundant computer”: How the International Space Apps Challenges Creates Innovation – DIY Space Exploration.

History, Multiple media

Audio-visual recreation of Apollo 11 lunar landing event

The website The First Men on the Moon: The Apollo 11 Lunar Landing provides

an online interactive featuring the Eagle lunar landing. The presentation includes original Apollo 11 spaceflight video footage, communication audio, mission control room conversations, text transcripts, and telemetry data, all synchronized into an integrated audio-visual experience.

Until today, it has been impossible to comprehensively experience mankind’s shining exploratory accomplishment in a singular experience. We have compiled hours of content available from public domain sources and various NASA websites. Thamtech staff and volunteers generously devoted their time to transcribe hours of speech to text. By using simultaneous space and land based audio and video, transcripts, images, spacecraft telemetry, and biomedical data—this synchronized presentation reveals the Moon Shot as experienced by the astronauts and flight controllers.

FirstMenOnTheMoonInteractiveScreenCapture

Space participation, Space Science

Send your name and message to Mars on the NASA MAVEN spacecraft

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A NASA outreach effort with the MAVEN Mars orbiter:

NASA Invites Public to Send Names And Messages to Mars

WASHINGTON —  NASA is inviting members of the public to submit their names and a personal message online for a DVD to be carried aboard a spacecraft that will study the Martian upper atmosphere.

The DVD will be in NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft, which is scheduled for launch in November. The DVD is part of the mission’s Going to Mars Campaign coordinated at the University of Colorado at Boulder’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (CU/LASP).

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The DVD will carry every name submitted. The public also is encouraged to submit a message in the form of a three-line poem, or haiku. However, only three haikus will be selected. The deadline for all submissions is July 1. An online public vote to determine the top three messages to be placed on the DVD will begin July 15.

“The Going to Mars campaign offers people worldwide a way to make a personal connection to space, space exploration, and science in general, and share in our excitement about the MAVEN mission,” said Stephanie Renfrow, lead for the MAVEN Education and Public Outreach program at CU/LASP.

Participants who submit their names to the Going to Mars campaign will be able to print a certificate of appreciation to document their involvement with the MAVEN mission.

“This new campaign is a great opportunity to reach the next generation of explorers and excite them about science, technology, engineering and math,” said Bruce Jakosky, MAVEN principal investigator from CU/LASP. “I look forward to sharing our science with the worldwide community as MAVEN begins to piece together what happened to the Red Planet’s atmosphere.”

MAVEN is the first spacecraft devoted to exploring and understanding the Martian upper atmosphere. The spacecraft will investigate how the loss of Mars’ atmosphere to space determined the history of water on the surface.

“This mission will continue NASA’s rich history of inspiring and engaging the public in spaceflight in ongoing Mars exploration,” said David Mitchell, MAVEN project manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

MAVEN’s principal investigator is based at the University of Colorado at Boulder’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. The university will provide science operations, science instruments and lead Education and Public Outreach. Goddard manages the project and provides two of the science instruments for the mission. Lockheed Martin of Littleton, Colo., built the spacecraft and is responsible for mission operations. The University of California at Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory provides science instruments for the mission. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., provides navigation support, the Deep Space Network and the Electra telecommunications relay hardware and operations.

To participate in the Going to Mars campaign, visit http://lasp.colorado.edu/maven/goingtomars

For more information on MAVEN, visit:  http://www.nasa.gov/maven

Space Policy

Space policy roundup – May 1, 2013

NASA pays Russia for Soyuz flights while waiting for Congress to fund the commercial crew transport program:

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A leading astronomy organization criticizes cuts to planetary science programs in the President’s proposed 2014 budget : Astronomers warn about NASA planetary funding cuts – Space Politics

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Pat Hynes urges greater appreciation and support for the ISS: The ISS – Pat Hynes Blog.