STS 497I
Space Colonization

Monday, 11:15-2:15
108 Wartik

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INSTRUCTOR INFORMATION

Instructor: Dr. Chris Churchill
Office hours: Wednesday & Thursday 2:00-3:00
Office: 515 Davey Lab
email: cwc@astro.psu.edu

Co-Instructor: Mr. Brock Pronko
email: brock3@prodigy.net


COURSE OUTLINE

This course is intended to introduce students to the challenges, and prospects of creating a spacefaring society.
  • A Brief History of Space Flight
  • Exploring and Colonizing the Moon
  • Exploring and Colonizing Mars
  • Economics of Getting to Space and Staying There
  • Geopolotics, Comercialization of Space
  • The Galaxy, Our Place in it, and Ad Asta....



SPECIFICS


Credit
This is a three credit course.

Prerequisites
None.

Lectures
The lectures will consist of presentation by the instrutor and also student reports (audio and visual). There will also be a weekly video-con lecture by or interview with a world renown expert from industry, government, or academia. These "lectures" are designed to explain difficult concepts, to stimulate interest in the reading material, to expand on the reading material, and to introduce topics not covered in books, magazines, and speciality publications. This class relies heavily upon class discussion. The student is strongly encouraged to ask questions and respond to questions!

Required Reading
The reading list will include books, magazine articles, industry reports, and conference proceedings. These will be announced in class.

Course Home Page
A home page will be continually updated for this course, and its address is the following: http://www.astro.psu.edu/users/cwc/sts497i-02.

Exams
There will be no closed book exams.

Attendance
Attendance is required and will be recorded. Acceptable cases are: (1) a medical emergency documented by an official physician's note; (2) official University business documented by an official from the University; or (3) death in your family documented by a death certificate. In these cases you must contact me as soon as possible regarding the makeup assignment.

Grading
Grading will be weighted as follows:

Assingments must be handed in or presented on the due date. There will be no partial credit for unexcused late assignments.

Office Hour Policy
You are encouraged to come to my office hours for help with the course material. If you cannot make the appointed times, please email to make an appointment (my office hours are given above). I prefer email to phone calls (cwc@astro.psu.edu). If you really need to call me my number is 865-2918. Please avoid leaving a message unless you do not have email access.

Optional Reading
There are web sites a plenty. Ask me or Brock Pronko for directions.

Academic Integrity Policy
All Penn State policies regarding ethics and honorable behavior apply to this course (and they are taken very seriously). If you read further you should be questioning why you are doing so! For details, please see Penn State Policy and The College of Science Policy.