Dozent/Lecturer: PD Dr. Coryn Bailer-Jones
Summer Semester 2020, 09:15-11:00 Tuesdays, kleiner Hörsaal, Phil.-Weg 12. First lecture 21 April.
The course looks into the physics of getting an uncrewed spacecraft to the nearest stars, and getting information back to Earth.
We will examine the application of known physics to the next (very) big step in spaceflight: getting to the nearest stars. This will include classical mechanics and special relativity, electromagnetism, thermodynamics, nuclear and particle physics, astronomy, and quantum mechanics. Topics may include: energy and momentum in central orbits; orbital transfers (Hohmann, slingshot, Oberth effect); rocket equation; space elevator; principles and design of rockets (chemical, fission, fusion, ion, antimatter); relativstic effects of high-speed travel; solar sails (principles and practice); laser sails (including physics of lasers); magnetic and electric sails (in particular for braking at the target star); properties of the interstellar medium (ISM), its impact on spacecraft, and shielding against damage; the ISM/solar system boundary; navigation (esp. using pulsars); communication (radio, optical; Friis transmission equation; basics of information theory); target stars and the science to do there (stellar astrophysics; exoplanets; life); science payloads/instruments; science that can be done enroute (e.g. astrometry, ISM).
Prerequisites for this course are PEP1-3 (or equivalent), and ideally you will also have done an introductory astronomy course.
Links (you may need to authenticate):
Important: Because this course will now be held online (see below), it is now essential that participants sign up in advance here.
Update 13 April 2020: The registration limit has been exceeded. I am afraid that I cannot accept any more registrations for this course.
Because of the on-going Covid-19 pandemic, I will hold this lecture course online. I will deliver the lecture live at the scheduled, weekly time slot using zoom. If you've not used zoom before, please install it and test it in advance. It is freely available from https://zoom.us/pricing ("Basic" version). The zoom room and password will be sent by email to registered participants.
I will share course materials (including the slides) via the university's moodle site (the enrollment key will be sent to registered participants). We will also use moodle's forum feature for discussions during the semester. I will not be recording the lectures, so you will need to attend them live (and attendance is expected). There is no single text book for this course, but much is covered by several different text books, and I will be sharing many references and PDFs of articles with you.
Given the uncertainties over the development of the pandemic, the form of assessment for this course is not yet decided (note that there are no grades for MVSpec courses, so the outcome is just pass/fail). If the university reopens in time, the assessment will probably be a conventional written exam. Otherwise it may be a one-off homework assignment. I will try to fix this as early as possible.