ESS 102 - Space and Space Travel
Instructor: Dr. Erika Harnett (eharnett at ess.washington.edu)
TAs: Head TA - Makenna Reeves (makennar at uw.edu)
Aurora Burd (aburd at uw.edu)
(Chistopher) Max Stevens (maxstev at uw.edu)
Please send general course-related questions to: ess-102 at ess.washington.edu
This course discusses the environment above the Earth's atmosphere. We will cover how the Sun acts
as both a source of energy for life on Earth (in the form of light and heat) but also as a source for lethal
radiation once we leave the confinds of the Earth. We will cover the similarity and differences between Earth
and other planets in the solar system and those found around other stars. We will also cover different methods
for traveling to other planets and what humans would need to do to stay alive during the journey.
Moodle Account
All online assignments and the first two tests will be handled by the Moodle server at the
link below. You will need to create your account and access the web site using your UW
netID. Your UW netID is your @uw.edu or @u.washington.edu email user name and password.
Reading:
The book An Introduction to Space Weather by Mark Moldwin is
required.
Week 1: Chapter 1, Appendix B and Appendix C
Week 2: Sections 2.7 and 5.9
Week 3: Sections 2.1 - 2.6 and 5.1 - 5.8
Week 4: Chapters 3 and 4 (skip 4.10)
Week 5: Chapters 5 and 6
Week 6: Chapters 7 and 8
Course Documents:
Syllabus
Citing References
Writing Credit Research Paper - Due April 19th
Writing Credit Sci-Fi Story - Extract Due May3rd, Full paper Due May 22nd
Water Rocket Instructions
Lecture Materials:
Movies
Math Review
3/26 - Lecture 1: Introduction
3/28 - Lecture 2: Why Space?
3/30 - Lecture 3: Light and Power
4/2 - Lecture 4: Waves
4/4 - Lecture 5: Spectra
4/6 - Lecture 6: Light and Matter
4/9 - Lecture 7: Atmospheres
4/11 - Lecture 8: Atmospheres Part 2
4/13 - Lecture 9: The Sun and Radioactivity
4/16 - Lecture 10: Nuclear Fission
4/18 - Lecture 11: Nuclear
Fusion
4/20 - Lecture 12: Solar Interior
4/23 - Lecture 13: Solar Atmosphere
4/25 - Lecture 14: Solar Magnetic Field
4/27 - Lecture 15: Solar Activity
4/30 - Lecture 16: The Solar Wind
5/2 - Lecture 17: Space Weather
5/4 - Lecture 18: Space Weather Part 2
5/7 - Lecture 19: Human Risks During Long Term Space Flight
5/9 - Lecture 20: Human Risks During Long Term Space Flight (cont) and the Rocket Equation
5/11 - Lecture 21: Chemical and Electric Propulsion
5/14 - Lecture 22: Electric and Nuclear Propulsion
5/16 - Lecture 23: Commercial Space Flight and Advanced Propulsion
Last modified: Mon May 14 14:36:02 PDT 2012