Instructor: M. Zuber, A. Gulbis and S. Slivan
Offered during spring semesters.
Prerequisite: permission of the instructor
Credits: [3-0-3].
Presents background for and techniques of visual observation, electronic imaging, and spectroscopy of the Moon, planets, satellites, stars, and brighter deep-space objects. Weekly outdoor observing sessions using 8-inch diameter telescopes when weather permits. Indoor sessions introduce needed skills. Introduction to contemporary observational astronomy including astronomical computing, and image and data processing.
A practical introduction to techniques for observing the Earth from airborne and spaceborne platforms. The course consists of three case studies in ocean, atmosphere and land applications in which students observe the "end-to-end" process of making remote observations ranging from problem definition, sensor design, spacecraft accommodation and orbital observation constraints, to data collection, analysis and interpretation. This course is offered under the auspices of the Joint Center for Geoscience of MIT and the Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD. Part of the course is taught at Goddard where students participate in tours of laboratories to observe sensor development in progress, mission operations facilities to viewreal-time data collection, and computational facilities to participate in data processing and analysis. Exercises analyzing remote sensing data sets are done in teams that mix MIT faculty and Goddard researchers with graduate students and undergraduates. Students are expected to write a short paper on some aspect of remote sensing.
This course is a seminar that discusses the science and engineering aspects of the Mars Exploration Program considering past, current and upcoming missions. We will read background literature, study the mission scientific results, and learn about the hardware and operational aspects of the missions. In the past students have assisted in the operation of the Mars Exploration rovers and have targeted images on the Mars Odyssey spacecraft.