Planetary Exploration Class, EE106

EE106: Planetary Exploration

This class investigates the other worlds of our solar system, particularly as revealed by recent space missions. It compares the properties of the terrestrial and Jovian planets, including the differences in their interiors, surfaces, atmospheres, and rings (if any). Also considered are

planetary and satellite orbits,
spacecraft trajectories,
orbital perturbations,

and the properties of

interplanetary gas and dust, asteroids,
comets,
meteorites.

We look into what the planets can tell us about potential terrestrial catastrophies, including

acid rain,
ozone depletion,
nuclear winter,
runaway greenhouse effect,
collision with an asteroid or large comet.

We also study the origin and evolution of planetary systems, and the advantages of remote sensing from spacecraft at radio, infrared, light, and ultraviolet wavelengths. The U.S., Russian, European, and Japanese space programs and their comparative engineering and scientific aspects are discussed.

Prerequisite: One year of college engineering, mathematics, or physics.

3 units, Spring (Fraser-Smith), Monday/Wednesday/Friday 2:15--3:05 pm

Textbook:

Voyages to the Planets, by A. Fraknoi, D. Morrison, and S. Wolff, 3rd Edition, Thomson Learning, 2004.

Course Description:

A copy of the course description and class schedule for Spring 2005 is available in Adobe portable document format (pdf) 3.0 (a highly compressed variation on postscript). A free reader for most any platform can be obtained from Adobe Acrobat.

EE 106 Course Description (2005).

Note: The Classroom for Spring 2006 is in the Green Earth Sciences Building (Gesb), Rm 131

Web Sites:

There are a number of interesting Web pages that describe our solar system in some detail and which have high quality pictures. For example:

SEDS, or Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS, University of Arizona).
Nine Planets, again provided by SEDS.
Space Flight History

AstroWeb provides a comprehensive listing of pointers to astronomy-related information.

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