COURSE MOTIVATION
This course is an introduction to the recent history of human space
flight and a discussion of the future consequences and outcomes for
humanity. Since it is impossible to understand the present and how
the consequences of today's decisions will affect the future without
knowledge of the past, we will look at the historical context of
exploration, with focus on the maritime programs of the 1400-1700s and
how those explorations changed the world. Human space flight holds
the same potential to change the world and we will examine the
parallels (including the social/political motivations and resulting
consequences of boldly pushing forward or conservatively halting such
explorations). Our current status of human exploration of the solar
system is the rough equivalent of the maritime exploration of the
1300s! The next centuries of space exploration hold the promise to
parallel the great discoveries and their resulting revolution of
humankind as did the explorations of the 1400-1700s (both their good
and bad consequences).
In addition, we will cover the development of the rocket science, and
will discuss the role of science fiction literature and war (rockets
as weapons) in the development of rocketry. To this end, we will
examine Newton's Laws of Motion and learn the basic physics of
rockets, orbits around planets, and how to fly a space craft from one
planet to another (celestial mechanics). This will include a focus on
the US space program and the moon walks. The US moon program has only
one parallel in history (the explorations conducted by Portugal!) in
which a nation was mobilized to overcome political, social, economic,
and technical problems. As the Russians were to the US during the
cold war and Space Race, so was Spain to Portugal during the Sea Race.
Thus, there is a historical parallel between the Space Race and the
Sea Race, and rich lessons from the Sea Race we should take take to heart.
Toward the end of the course, we will review the USSR and Chinese
space programs and consider the future of human space flight. this
will include a comparison and contrast analysis of both government run
programs and programs in the private industry (SpaceX, Virgin
Galactic, etc). We will discuss NASA's currently developing Space
Launch System for future human deep space exploration to planets and
asteroids.
In the end, the overall goal is for you to be able to compare and
contrast previous history with current global events, to use
perspective from history to draw conclusions about the geopolitical,
economic, ethnic, and cultural outcomes of current geopolitical
policies and events, and to draw your own conclusions about how
critical it is to the human condition that humanity is always
breeching a PHYSICAL frontier. These topics will be addressed in
class discussions.
We will always include throughout the class the scientific
method of understanding the universe and our place within it.
PREREQUISITES
None. There will be very little quantitative analysis, so your math
background should not be a factor.
LECTURES + DISCUSSION
The lectures are designed to introduce and explain historical
perspective and the interplay between political, social, economic
aspects of humanity in relation to broader scientific and technical
concepts. We will focus on the historical context of the geopolitical
expansion of humanity, which first occurred via the seas, and then on
the future of the geopolitical expansion of humanity, which will
occur in the solar system. The lectures are designed to parallel and
to expand the reading material. Discussions will be an important part
of the lectures. You are encouraged to ask questions during the
lectures!
IN CLASS RULES
1. NO CELL PHONES
2. NO FOOD OR EATING (drinks OK)
3. LAPTOPS FOR NOTE TAKING ONLY (Wireless OFF).
CREDIT/GRADING
This is a "viewing the wider world" course offered through the
Department of Astronomy and the College of Arts and Sciences.
Successful completion will earn you (3.0) credit hours. Attendance to
the lectures is mandatory and will be charted. In summary, the
following will be counted for credit:
- 10% Attendance
-
10% Random In Class Quizzes
-
20% Homework Assignments
-
20% Midterm Exam 1
-
20% Midterm Exam 2
-
20% Cumulative Final Exam
- Up to 5% Extra Credit for Discussion and Interaction in Class
ATTENDANCE AND EXCUSED ABSENCES
Your attendance is charted when you hand in your daily in-class quiz
(see below). To obtain your attendance credit, you must have it noted
no later than the end of class the day of. The TA will be monitoring
this process. You will received a single attendance point for every
day that you hand in a quiz or touch base with the TA in the class
room. Attendance is 10% of your overall grade.
EXCUSED ABSENCES: Only, excused absences are allowed. Excused
absences (funerals, medical appointments, military obligations,
official sports events for athletes, job interviews, etc.) must be
accompanied by an official note or letter. Always be sure your name
is clearly identified on your note. Hand them to the professor in
class as needed. Once I OK an excused absence for you, that class
period is "nulled" (removed) from your attendance grade, meaning that
the day does not count against you, nor does it count as an
attendance.
UN-EXCUSED ABSENCES: These include flat tires, dead batteries, ran out
of gas, my ride ditched me, alarms that failed to go off, overslept,
traffic jams, got off work late, basically any one-off circumstantial
inconvenience or happenstance. Do NOT send a Canvas message or email
for the above reasons in the hopes of obtaining and excused absence.
IN CLASS QUIZZES
At random during class meetings, there will be a short quiz on the
reading and previous lecture materials covered. At the end of the
course, the quiz points you have earned will comprise 10% of your
grade. NOTE: quizzes will be handed out at 8:55am sharp and must be
handed back in by 9:05 sharp. So, be seated and ready (phones off,
aterials put away) by 8:55.
IN CLASS DISCUSSIONS
There will often be a discussion in class. Your participation is
voluntary, but it will noted and extra-credit points will be awarded.
At the end of the course, in-class discussion can add up to a maximum
of 5% extra credit added to your overall grade.
READING
There will be quite a bit of assigned reading. Reading will be
necessary to be able to respond properly on the quizzes and homework
assignments, and to pass the exams (translation: you should do the
reading). There are two required books for this
course: (purchase these immediately) and
one recommended book.
REQUIRED
-
The Discoverers: A History of Man's Search to Know his World and
Himself, by Daniel Boorstin. You can pick up a copy on or through
amazon.com
for less than $14.
-
SpaceRace: The Epic Battle Between America and The Soviet Union for Domination of Space, by Deborah Cadbury. You can pick up a copy through
amazon.com for less than $13.
RECOMMENDED
-
A Man on the Moon: Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts, by Andrew
Chaikin. You can pick up a copy on or through amazon.com
for $0.25-$6.00.
You are responsible for keeping up with the required reading.
Your best strategy will be to do the assigned reading the night before
the material is presented in class.
EXAMS
There will be two midterm exams covering the material discussed in
class and the assigned readings. There will also be a cumulative
final exam at the end of the semester. Each midterm exam comprises
20% of your final grade. The final exam also comprises 20% of your
final grade. YOU MUST TAKE ALL EXAMS TO PASS THE CLASS. It will be
up to the discretion of the professor to decide a pass or no-pass
grade for you in the course in the event that you have not taken one
of the exams.
EXAM DAY POLICY: Cell phones will be silenced and placed on the desk
in front of you face down. (1) No hats or objects that obstruct your
face; (2) All books and papers zipped shut in your back pack on the
floor; (3) It is preferred that you use pencil only; bring a No. 2
pencil with excellent eraser. Scantrons and blue books will not be
used at anytime in this course.
MAKE-UP EXAM POLICIES: No make-up exams will be given except in cases
of: (1) a documented medical emergency or job interview; (2) official
university business documented by an official from the university; or
(3) death in your family with official documentation. The format of
the makeup exam will be at the discretion of the instructor. YOU MUST
CONTACT ME BY EMAIL OR PHONE MESSAGE NO LATER THAN THE END OF THE DAY
OF THE EXAM FOR THESE POLICY TO HOLD. CONTACT AFTER THE EXAM DAY WILL
RESULT IN A ZERO SCORE. PERIOD. NO EXCEPTIONS.
DISCRIMINATION POLICY
The following is a statement on discrimination is taken from Gerard
Nevarez of the Office of Institutional
Equity/EEO. "New Mexico State University (NMSU) is dedicated to
providing equal opportunities in areas of employment and academics
without regard to age, ancestry, color, disability, gender identity,
genetic information, national origin, race, religion, serious medical
condition, sex, sexual orientation, spousal affiliation or protected
veteran status as outlined in federal and state anti-discrimination
statutes. As a federal contractor, NMSU’s affirmative action program
also supports this effort. Further, NMSU is committed to providing a
place of work and learning free of discrimination and harassment on
the basis of a person’s age, ancestry, color, disability, gender
identity, genetic information, national origin, race, religion,
serious medical condition, sex, protected veteran status, sexual
orientation, or spousal affiliation. Where a violation of policy is
found to have occurred, NMSU will act to stop the conduct, to prevent
its recurrence, to remedy its effects, and to discipline those
responsible in accordance with the NMSU Policy Manual and/or NMSU
Student Code of Conduct." For more information visit the
Academic
Misconduct Page within the NMSU student handbook.
We are also dedicated to these ideas and take them seriously. It will
be expected that all students in this class will act in accordance to
create a work and learning environment free of discrimination and
harassment.
HOMEWORK AND PLAGIARISM POLICY
There will be a quasi-weekly homework assignment. Instructions for
the homework assignments will be provided in all cases and these are
to be fully followed for full credit to be considered. At the end of
the course, the points you earn on homework assignments will comprise
20% of your final grade.
Late homework will not be accepted unless the student requests (via
Canvas messaging) a grace period BEFORE the due date AND has received
confirmation AND has agreed to the new due date. This will be done on
case by case basis. Extensions will not be rubber stamped, the
reasons must be legitimate. IMPORTANT: once the homework solutions for
a given assignment are posted for the class, no more homeworks will be
accepted for that assignment for any reason.
COLLABORATION POLICY (how to avoid plagiarism): You may collaborate
with other classmates for studying and developing your answers for
your homework write ups. However, it is an absolute rule that to
receive ANY credit for your homework
you individually must write answers in your own words on your
own. It is a very easy to cross correlate and check for
copying and close paraphrasing. We are very efficient at finding
infractions of copying and/or plagiarism.
DEFINITION OF PLAGIARISM: Plagiarism includes, but is not necessarily
limited to, "submitting examinations, themes, reports, drawings,
laboratory notes, undocumented quotations, computer-processed
materials, or other material as one's own work when such work has been
prepared by another person or copied from another person." Both
intentional and unintentional plagiarism is considered academic
misconduct . Further definitions on plagiarism can be found at
http://nmsu.libguides.com/plagiarism.
POLICY IF PLAGIARISM IS DISCOVERED: The above "collaboration policy"
will not be compromised.
Both intentional and unintentional plagiarism is considered
academic misconduct . Thus, claiming ignorance of this policy or
claiming "it was unintentional" does not abrogate you from the
consequences of plagiarism. Since it is not possible to ascertain
whether your work has been copied from another, or whether you copied
from another, BOTH individuals who are judged to be involved in a
putative infraction, either fully or partially, will be contacted
directly- the situation will be discussed and documented with
signatures. The student(s) will receive no credit for the
assignment and the documented offense, at the discretion of the
instructor, may be sent to the Administration of Discipline for
review. This may result in disciplinary action from the University,
including expulsion. Be diligent; don't copy; don't let others copy
from you.
DROPPING THE COURSE: I will not drop you from the course. You must do
this administrative act yourself. If your name appears in BANNER for a
final grade and you have not attended class or completed ALL EXAMS AND
THE FINAL EXAM, then you will unfortunately be given an "F" grade.
OFFICE HOURS
You are encouraged to come to the
instructor's office hours for help with the course material. If you
cannot make the appointed times, please make an appointment (my office
hours are given above). Of course, I have an open door policy, so if
you want to take the chance and just show up I may be in my office.
Workaholic that I am, I usually am in my office all day every day.
COMMUNICATION AND DAMAGE CONTROL
Direct and honest communication with your professor
will always serve your interest best. If you have
personal issues that affect your performance and/or attendance, the
responsible thing is to communicate these as soon as possible. For
example, missing class for three weeks and then showing up (or
emailing) to discuss your grade is NOT effective communication.
Calling or emailing that you will be missing class is effective
communication. You of course do not need to disclose your personal
issues in detail. If you want the best damage control for a situation
going bad, communicate up front. We are here to assist you in
successfully achieving your educational goals. We will gladly work
out a program to help you complete the course, provided you do not
request it in the "11th hour".
COMMUNICATING WITH YOUR PROFESSOR: Please use CANVAS for all messaging
and communication. My office phone does not have voice message
capability. If leaving a message via the secretary, be sure to
include your name and the date.
ADVICE FOR DAMAGE CONTROL. Though we work hard to keep clear and
accurate records, from which your grade will be determined, we are not
perfect and mistakes can and do sometimes occur. We strongly
encourage you to KEEP ALL WORK WITH GRADES MARKED ON THEM for backup
proof in the case that we make a mistake in our record keeping. In
cases where there are disputes over lost work or grades entries in our
records that do not corroborate your expectations or memory, we will
work hard to resolve the issue to the best of our integrity. However,
we cannot promise that the issue will always be resolved in your favor
if you do not have proof. If you have backup proof (i.e., your graded
paper), the issue will always be resolved quickly and unambiguously.
COURSE HOMEPAGES AND CANVAS
Most all book keeping
and announcements will be recorded on Canvas. In addition, off-Canvas
web pages will be used, but these will always be linked to the Canvas
page for the course. The off-Canvas address for the web pages is
http://astronomy.nmsu.edu/cwc/Teaching/ASTR308/.
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
All New Mexico State University policies regarding ethics and
honorable behavior apply to this course (and they are taken very
seriously). For details, please see the NMSU Student Code of Conduct.
Plagiarism will not be tolerated. As stated above, both intentional
and unintentional plagiarism is considered academic misconduct. The
NMSU Student Code of Conduct will be applied as policy in this course.