| Course Name | Space exploration and society: Past, Present, and Future |
| Code | Semester | Theory (hour/week) | Application/Lab (hour/week) | Local Credits | ECTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GENS 211 | Fall/Spring | 3 | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| Prerequisites | None | |||||
| Course Language | ||||||
| Course Type | Second Foreign Language | |||||
| Course Level | - | |||||
| Mode of Delivery | - | |||||
| Teaching Methods and Techniques of the Course | ||||||
| Course Coordinator | ||||||
| Course Lecturer(s) | ||||||
| Assistant(s) | - | |||||
| Course Objectives | This course will examine the history of space exploration in a way accessible to motivated students of all majors and levels - not just engineers and scientists but also economists, fine artists, accountants, political scientists, musicians, philosophers, lawyers, movie makers and medical doctors. Analysis of the impact of space exploration will include industrial benefits, the novel phenomenon of commercial space and societal change from the artistic, literary, and philosophical standpoints including also the growing representation of women in the air and in space. Finally we shall consider the colonization of Mars and interdisciplinary issues such as nanotechnology and the dream of interstellar exploration. . This course will examine the history of space exploration in a way accessible to motivated students of all majors and levels - not just engineers and scientists but also economists, fine artists, accountants, political scientists, musicians, philosophers, lawyers, movie makers and medical doctors. Analysis of the impact of space exploration will include industrial benefits, the novel phenomenon of commercial space and societal change from the artistic, literary, and philosophical standpoints including also the growing representation of women in the air and in space. Finally we shall consider the colonization of Mars and interdisciplinary issues such as nanotechnology and the dream of interstellar exploration. . This course will examine the history of space exploration in a way accessible to motivated students of all majors and levels - not just engineers and scientists but also economists, fine artists, accountants, political scientists, musicians, philosophers, lawyers, movie makers and medical doctors. Analysis of the impact of space exploration will include industrial benefits, the novel phenomenon of commercial space and societal change from the artistic, literary, and philosophical standpoints including also the growing representation of women in the air and in space. Finally we shall consider the colonization of Mars and interdisciplinary issues such as nanotechnology and the dream of interstellar exploration. |
| Learning Outcomes | The students who succeeded in this course;
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| Course Description | The course provides a general introduction to the elements that make a space mission possible so that informed students can draw their own conclusions. It covers fundamental knowledge at the simplest mathematical level possible to allow students to judge technical claims independently. Case histories about several programs, both human and robotic, are analyzed to expose scientific, technological, and societal interactions. The students are exposed to the tools needed to develop personal critical thinking regarding space exploration, its benefits and its challenges. |
| Related Sustainable Development Goals |  |
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| Core Courses | |
| Major Area Courses | ||
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| Media and Managment Skills Courses | ||
| Transferable Skill Courses |
| Week | Subjects | Required Materials |
| 1 | Introduction and general overview of the course and of the fundamental concepts. | Check the class syllabus |
| 2 | The dream of human flight: ancient sources in prose, poetry, and the figurative arts. | Lecture Notes |
| 3 | The Scientific Revolution: Dynamics (almost) without math and the reason things moves as they do | Lecture Notes |
| 4 | How to plan, prepare, and submit your projects without stress: Software, sources, and intellectual ethics | Lecture Notes |
| 5 | Space flight made easy and attractive 1: Your instruction manual to go from the ground to low earth orbit and back. | Lecture Notes |
| 6 | Connection between flight, rocketry and society in the early 20th century: Different countries, different stories. | Lecture Notes |
| 7 | Review | Lecture Notes |
| 8 | Space flight made easy and attractive 2: Your instruction manual to go from low earth orbit to the moon and back. | Lecture Notes |
| 9 | Spaceflight in modern art: music, film, and literature | Lecture Notes |
| 10 | Women in the space program. The success story. | Lecture Notes |
| 11 | Spaceflight made easy and attractive 3: Your instruction manual to go from low earth orbit to Mars and back. | Lecture Notes |
| 12 | Spaceflight meets entrepreneurship: Space tourism and commercial space | Lecture Notes |
| 13 | The open frontier: Interstellar travel and the amazing technologies to make it possible. | Lecture Notes |
| 14 | Review | Lecture Notes |
| 15 | Review | Lecture Notes |
| 16 | Final | Lecture Notes |
| Course Notes/Textbooks | Lecture Notes, Fabrizio Pinto |
| Suggested Readings/Materials |
| Semester Activities | Number | Weighting |
| Participation | ||
| Laboratory / Application | ||
| Field Work | ||
| Quizzes / Studio Critiques | ||
| Portfolio | ||
| Homework / Assignments | ||
| Presentation / Jury | ||
| Project | 3 | 60 |
| Seminar / Workshop | ||
| Oral Exam | ||
| Midterm | ||
| Final Exam | 1 | 40 |
| Total |
| Weighting of Semester Activities on the Final Grade | 3 | 60 |
| Weighting of End-of-Semester Activities on the Final Grade | 1 | 40 |
| Total |
| Semester Activities | Number | Duration (Hours) | Workload |
|---|---|---|---|
| Course Hours (Including exam week: 16 x total hours) | 16 | 3 | 48 |
| Laboratory / Application Hours (Including exam week: 16 x total hours) | 16 | ||
| Study Hours Out of Class | 16 | 5 | 80 |
| Field Work | |||
| Quizzes / Studio Critiques | |||
| Portfolio | |||
| Homework / Assignments | |||
| Presentation / Jury | |||
| Project | 3 | 6 | |
| Seminar / Workshop | |||
| Oral Exam | |||
| Midterms | |||
| Final Exams | 1 | 4 | |
| Total | 150 |
| # | Program Competencies/Outcomes | * Contribution Level | ||||
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 1 | To be able master and use fundamental phenomenological and applied physical laws and applications, | |||||
| 2 | To be able to identify the problems, analyze them and produce solutions based on scientific method, | |||||
| 3 | To be able to collect necessary knowledge, able to model and self-improve in almost any area where physics is applicable and able to criticize and reestablish his/her developed models and solutions, | |||||
| 4 | To be able to communicate his/her theoretical and technical knowledge both in detail to the experts and in a simple and understandable manner to the non-experts comfortably, | |||||
| 5 | To be familiar with software used in area of physics extensively and able to actively use at least one of the advanced level programs in European Computer Usage License, | |||||
| 6 | To be able to develop and apply projects in accordance with sensitivities of society and behave according to societies, scientific and ethical values in every stage of the project that he/she is part in, | |||||
| 7 | To be able to evaluate every all stages effectively bestowed with universal knowledge and consciousness and has the necessary consciousness in the subject of quality governance, | |||||
| 8 | To be able to master abstract ideas, to be able to connect with concreate events and carry out solutions, devising experiments and collecting data, to be able to analyze and comment the results, | |||||
| 9 | To be able to refresh his/her gained knowledge and capabilities lifelong, have the consciousness to learn in his/her whole life, | |||||
| 10 | To be able to conduct a study both solo and in a group, to be effective actively in every all stages of independent study, join in decision making stage, able to plan and conduct using time effectively. | |||||
| 11 | To be able to collect data in the areas of Physics and communicate with colleagues in a foreign language ("European Language Portfolio Global Scale", Level B1). | |||||
| 12 | To be able to speak a second foreign at a medium level of fluency efficiently | |||||
| 13 | To be able to relate the knowledge accumulated throughout the human history to their field of expertise. | |||||
*1 Lowest, 2 Low, 3 Average, 4 High, 5 Highest
