An interesting class - Basics of Interplanetary Flight

I thought you Old Town Astronomer list members might be interested in this class. Basics of Interplanetary Flight! If so read on! Hello - I'd like to invite you to consider joining us, starting next week, for "Basics of Interplanetary Flight," a night course open to the public. The first class meeting is Thursday September 13, 2007. This week, though, is the week to register: late registration fees start Monday. Classes are hosted by the Art Center College of Design Public Programs, at their award-winning South Campus building (converted wind tunnel facility) on Raymond at Glenarm in Pasadena. This is hands-on interplanetary exploration. In the course of seven consecutive Thursday evenings, we will experiment together to intuitively learn the keys to interplanetary flight. We can usually count on enjoying a stellar guest speaker, as well. So far, previous class participants have included physicians, secretaries, film producers, engineers, undergrads, grad students, writers, teachers, pilots, architects, even a celebrity. Here's a quote from a participant in the summer term that ended recently: "Incredible. Interesting topics were explored in a fun way, often with experiments. Each night left me eager to learn more." We generally divide our three-hour meetings into developing three lines of inquiry: (1) Observing and grasping each of the major factors in the whole environment in which we live and operate our robots: being the companion of a dwarf star in a bubble orbiting a super-massive black hole at the center of one of many galaxies (and understanding just how this is known); (2) Learning how spacecraft are put together, what all their components do, how they work, and why; (3) Soaking in the results; seeing and experiencing new worlds, encountering the latest and ongoing discoveries. Information from the Art Center course catalog is included below. Substantial tuition discounts are offered to teachers, members of The Planetary Society, and others. For more details, and a link for registration, see http://people.artcenter.edu/doody. If you have any questions, please email me at doody(a)artcenter.edu Thanks! Dave Doody E/078 Basics of Interplanetary Flight noncredit $395 Art Center at Night is pleased to offer you this extraordinary opportunity to study the fundamentals of robotic space flight with Caltech/JPL senior engineer Dave Doody, Flight Operations Lead for the Saturn-orbiting Cassini spacecraft's realtime operations. We have as our home a very rare planet, the companion of a star-in-a-bubble, orbiting the distant black hole at our galactic center. In this 7-week workshop, you will look back at our planet from this greater perspective, and explore the vehicles, the techniques, and the science experiments involved in today's ongoing extraterrestrial exploration. Many familiar products such as cell phones, medical devices, and imaging systems have developmental roots on the edges of robotic space flight. Surveying these roots may help designers conceive future products. Knowing how real spacecraft move may be useful for filmmakers and illustrators. The range of topics will intrigue any curious participant. Class discussions will be enhanced by ongoing Q&A, many hands-on demonstrations, design-based learning sessions, and a "guest star" appearance or two. No prerequisites. 7 sessions Thursdays 7 -10 pm Dave Doody SOUTH CAMPUS -- Jane Houston Jones Monrovia, CA 34.2048N 118.1732W, 637.0 feet http://www.whiteoaks.com Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org