Design course in space astronomy

Dean, A. J.; Perez-Fournon, I.
Bibliographical reference

European Journal of Physics, Volume 24, Issue 2, pp. S25-S31 (2003).

Advertised on:
3
2003
Number of authors
2
IAC number of authors
1
Citations
0
Refereed citations
0
Description
The aim of this course is to provide direct experience of collaboration with other European astronomy/space science students and to gain an insight into the establishment of ESA space science programmes. The first half of the course takes place in Southampton. The Southampton students work as a team to track a past ESA space science mission from initial conception through to final realization and operations. This is achieved through the study of the high quality documentation available in the form of ESA reports. Each student has well defined responsibilities within the team. The second half of the course takes place in Tenerife, at the University of La Laguna. Again the students are expected to complete a team study of a space science mission. This time, however, there are important differences: the study teams are now international, approximately half Southampton and half University of La Laguna students; and this time they are expected to design a completely new space astronomy mission with clearly specified scientific objectives and operational constraints.