ISDC'96 in NYC:
One-Day Short Space Courses
Below are detailed course descriptions, instructor biographies, and costs for the one-day professional-level short space courses being offered in conjunction with ISDC'96 and New York Space Expos over the Memorial Day weekend in New York City.
LAUNCH VEHICLE TECHNOLOGIES & SYSTEMS
Dr. Marshall Kaplan, Launchspace, Inc.
Thurs., May 23, 1996, Grand Hyatt New York, $149
Summary
This presentation offers a detailed introduction to the world of launch vehicle technologies and systems. All aspects of the launch vehicle industry, systems, and types are included. Special emphasis is placed on fundamentals and the highly volatile issues of today. You will get a realistic comparison of the newest contenders and their failures, including the Pegasus XL, LMLV, Conestoga, Long March, and X-34. Current developments and future prospects for expendable and reusable systems are discussed. All of the current vehicles and launch sites are surveyed. Subjects include the language of launch vehicles, an explanation of the rocket equation, classification of vehicle types, descriptions of subsystems, payload penalties, ascent design, and simulation.
What You Will Learn
Why access to space is so expensive. The truth about reusables. Why the U.S. is losing the launch vehicle war. Key launch vehicle "rules of thumb" and "sanity" checks. Fundamental performance parameters and trade-offs. How launchers stack up on a cost-per-pound basis. Launcher trends including new NASA and commercial vehicles.
Course Outline
- What is a Launch Vehicle? Historical overview. Elementary definitions and principles of launching objects and their characteristics. Fundamental launch vehicle physics.
- What Goes into a Launch Vehicle? Minimum elements which make up a launch vehicle. Subsystems and their fundamental interactions. Key parameters and technologies in the design process.
- What Makes It Go Up? Solid and liquid rockets. New developments in propulsion and performance characteristics.
- How Do You Steer the Vehicle on the Way Up? Equations of ascent dynamics. Energy losses due to gravitational attraction and aerodynamic drag. Parameters affecting the ascent trajectory.
- How Does the Payload Feel on the Way Up? Acceleration, shock, acoustics, and vibration environment. Interfaces between the launch vehicle and the payload.
- Why Does It Cost So Much to Go into Space? Cost elements. Recurring and non-recurring elements. Insurance and regulations.
- What Lies Ahead? The new generation of launch vehicles and what they have to offer. Lessons learned from Conestoga, Pegasus, LMLV, and X-34. The fallacy of SSTO.
Instructor
Marshall H. Kaplan, Ph.D., is a leading consultant on launch vehicle design and engineering. He has participated in a number of new launch vehicle developments, and has served as the chief engineer on a fully reusable launcher system and Conestoga expendable launch vehicle family. Dr. Kaplan is also a co-inventor of a new mobile, small expendable launch system for military applications, and is involved in a number of other new booster concept developments. He is a member of the National Research Council's Committee on Reusable Launch Vehicle Technology Development and Test Program. Your seminar leader has 33 years of academic and industrial experience with launch vehicles, satellites, and space technologies. He was a Professor of Aerospace Engineering at Pennsylvania State University and Director of a Space Research Institute. Dr. Kaplan has published over 75 aerospace technical papers, reports, and articles; authored several books, including Modern Spacecraft Dynamics and Control, and holds advanced degrees from MIT and Stanford.
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AN INTRODUCTION TO REMOTE SENSING
Dr. Scott Madry, International Space University
Thurs., May 23, 1996, Grand Hyatt New York, $149
Summary
This one-day presentation will provide a comprehensive overview of remote sensing technology and fundamentals. Emphasis is placed on applications and implications for the future of the field. You will learn the basic underlying principles of Earth observation including physical fundamentals and sensor capabilities. Sources for remote sensing data are reviewed and compared. Existing and future applications of remote sensing (environmental, land use, mapping) are examined in detail. The impact of existing and developing remote sensing technology on a range of human activity will be discussed, in particular the changes to be brought about by new commercial systems.
What You Will Learn
Basic physical principles and sensor technologies for Earth observation. Sources for Earth observation data and their capabilities. Current and future applications for remote sensing technology across a range of fields. Implications of current and upcoming technologies for remote sensing data use and availability.
Course Outline
- Introduction to remote sensing. The electromagnetic spectrum.
- Sensor basics. Resolution: spatial, spectral, radiometric, temporal.
- Remote sensing data sources. Satellite systems including Landsat, TM, SPOT. Airborne sensor systems. Air photographs. Orthophotoquads.
- Application studies in the context of GIS and GPS.
- Technical, commercial, and policy future of space remote sensing.
- New systems. High-resolution commercial digital imagery.
Instructor
Dr. Scott Madry is the Associate Director of the Center for Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis of Rutgers University, and is a member of the graduate faculty in the departments of Geography and Anthropology. He oversees the Center's Geographic Information Systems and remote sensing short course program, and has given over 50 short courses over the past 5 years. He received his Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and was at the Space Remote Sensing Center, NASA Stennis Space Center, from 1986-1989, leaving as a Senior Project Manager. He is currently the Chair of the GIS committee of the Remote Sensing Applications Division of ASPRS, and has been involved in teaching and research of remote sensing and GIS for 12 years. His research interests include the application of remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS) to regional settlement pattern studies. Recent publications include two chapters in Interpreting Space: GIS and Archaeology, edited by Allen, Green, and Zubrow (Taylor and Francis, London, 1990). Current research involves a regional land use and settlement pattern analysis in Burgundy, France, SIR-C/X-SAR radar data analysis for Mountain Gorilla habitat research in Rwanda, as well as several other projects funded through the Center and other grants and contracts. He has served as Principal Investigator on over $1 million in grants and contracts. Some of his research on the application of remote sensing and GIS was featured in the McGraw Hill Yearbook of Science and Technology, 1991. He has been involved in the International Space University since the founding conference in 1987, serving on the faculty in the Satellite Applications Department at seven summer sessions around the world and serving as a member of the Academic Council of the university.
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LEO CONSTELLATION DESIGN & SPACECRAFT DESIGN IMPACTS
Robert Cenker, P.E., Launchspace Inc.
Fri., May 24, 1996, Grand Hyatt New York, $149
Summary
This is a one-day presentation which brings you up to date on the subtleties of commercial Low Earth Orbit (LEO) constellation design, and the impacts of constellation configuration on the spacecraft design. Mission requirements, which drive the constellation selection process, include the payload needs and program financial constraints. Specifically, the cost factors associated with launch vehicle performance must be considered. Similarly, the payload requirements typically drive both the spacecraft power and pointing requirements, directly affecting attitude control. These then impact the vehicle propulsion, thermal, and TT&C performance. Implementation of the design choices to resolve these issues is directly affected by the unique considerations associated with the LEO orbit configuration selected. Methods for resolving these systems considerations are presented, based on current and projected commercial space technologies.
What You Will Learn
Fundamentals of orbital mechanics, with emphasis on the impacts on LEO constellation design. Methods for evaluation of constellations for mission considerations. Impact of various constellations on spacecraft subsystems design: Power, Thermal, Attitude Control, Propulsion, and TT&C. Operational considerations unique to constellation establishment and operation. Realities of LEO constellation capabilities.
Course Outline
- Introduction and Review of Fundamentals. Basic definitions. Review of mathematical principles. Laws of Kepler and Newton.
- Perfect and Perturbed Orbits. Disturbance sources, natural, induced, and combined. Disturbance effects. Orbit achievement. Injection errors.
- Candidate Constellation Orbits. Altitude and inclination effects. Constellation configurations. Walker patterns. Adams/Rider patterns. Mission trades.
- Candidate Payloads and Implications. Requirements. Coverage and visibility. Systems impacts. Power and attitude control. Thermal and operational considerations.
- Spacecraft Subsystem Implications. Power, thermal, attitude control, propulsion, operations.
Instructor
Robert J. Cenker, P.E., is an established consultant in the area of commercial spacecraft systems engineering. His current assignments include systems engineering on several LEO constellation designs, and systems engineering and operations support on several geostationary satellite programs. He has served as the Integration and Test Manager, Spacecraft Bus Manager, and Systems Engineering Manager on commercial communications satellite programs, Payloads Accommodations Manager on the EOS Mission to Planet Earth, and Payload Specialist Astronaut on Shuttle Mission 61C during the deployment of the RCA Satcom Ku 1 spacecraft. He has 25 years of experience in the space industry, with 20 of those years in commercial spacecraft design and operation.
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CHAOS, ORBITAL DYNAMICS, AND FUZZY BOUNDARIES
Dr. Edward Belbruno, University of Minnesota
Fri., May 24, 1996, Grand Hyatt New York, $149
Summary
This course is designed to give a self-contained introduction to the relatively new area of applying chaos theory to orbital dynamics. A new approach developed by the instructor, "fuzzy boundary theory," will be described. It gives an alternate way to design trajectories for spacecraft which give substantially better performance. A new route to the Moon based on this theory was successfully used in 1991-93 by the Japanese Hiten spacecraft. The design and history of this route will be described. New applications of the so-called fuzzy boundary transfer will be described for the Moon and Mars. This theory also has interesting applications to cometary dynamics. A cometary dynamic is described where a comet in a seemingly normal ellipse suddenly jumps to another. This dynamic is called "the hop"; Kepler would have been shocked. The course will be nonmathematical in nature: while participants should have a knowledge of some very basic concepts involved with the motion of an object in space, everything will be self-contained. Basic concepts in chaos theory will be described, and everything will be illustrated with interesting visuals. This course should be of interest to the professional or serious enthusiast.
What You Will Learn
Classical Earth-Moon flight trajectories. Fundamental concepts of chaos theory and fuzzy boundaries. New concepts for low-energy trajectories to the Moon, Mars, and asteroids. Implications for mission planning and spacecraft design. Case study applications to Hiten lunar mission and actual comets.
Course Outline
- Basic concepts of the design of trajectories from the Earth to the Moon. Hohmann transfers.
- Basics of chaos theory. Fuzzy boundary theory.
- New low-energy routes to the Moon. "Slower is better."
- Demonstration by the Japanese spacecraft Hiten, and new applications to lunar, Mars, and asteroid missions.
- The Hop, or "You just can't trust an ellipse." Applications to several real comets. Implications for Earth impactors.
- Applications of the Hop to new missions.
Instructor
Edward Belbruno received his doctoral degree in mathematics from the Courant Institute of New York University in 1980. He has been a professor at Boston University, and an orbital analyst at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory where he worked on such missions as Galileo, Magellan, Ulysses, and Cassini. While there, from 1985-1991, he developed a new type of low-energy lunar transfer that was operationally demonstrated by the Japanese spacecraft Hiten in 1991. This lunar transfer is derived from "fuzzy boundary theory" Dr. Belbruno developed while at JPL. Dr. Belbruno is currently with The Geometry Center of the University of Minnesota, where fuzzy boundary theory has been applied to cometary dynamics, and in other mission studies. His work was a feature article in Discover in September 1994, and appeared again in October of 1995. It has appeared in many science periodicals such as Science and New Scientist, and as a feature broadcast on Science and Technology Satellite News.
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