How to Declare

 

 

 

Space exploration is truly fascinating. From the space race led by governments as an outgrowth of the Cold War to the new era of space commercialization led by private companies and startups, more than 50 years have passed characterized by great leaps forward and discoveries. We will learn how space missions are designed, from concept to execution, based on the professional experience of the lecturer and numerous examples of spacecraft, including unique hardware demonstrations by startups of the Silicon Valley. We will study the essentials of systems engineering as applicable to a variety of mission types, for communication, navigation, science, commercial, and military applications. We will explore the various elements of a space mission, including the spacecraft, ground, and launch segments with their functionalities. Special emphasis will be given to the design cycle, to understand how spacecraft are born, from the stakeholders’ needs, through analysis, synthesis, all the way to their integration and validation. We will compare current designs with those employed in the early days of the space age, and show the importance of economics in the development of spacecraft. Finally, we will brainstorm startup ideas and apply the concepts learned to a notional space mission design as a team.

 

The demand for rapid prototyping of lightweight, complex, and low-cost structures has led the aerospace industry to leverage three-dimensional (3D) printing as a manufacturing technology.  For example, the manufacture of aircraft engine components, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) wings, CubeSat parts, and satellite sub-systems has recently been realized with 3D printing and other additive manufacturing techniques.  In this freshman seminar, a survey of state-of-the-art 3D printing processes will be pursued and the process-dependent properties of 3D-printed materials and structures will be analyzed in detail.  In addition, the advantages and disadvantages of this manufacturing approach will be debated during class!  To give students exposure to 3D printing systems in action, tours of actual 3D printing facilities on campus (Stanford’s Product Realization Laboratory), as well as in Silicon Valley (e.g., Made In Space) will be conducted.

 

Preference to freshmen. Why do people want to know where they are? Answers include cross-Pacific trips of Polynesians, missile guidance, and distraught callers. How do people determine where they are? Navigation technology from dead-reckoning, sextants, and satellite navigation (GPS).  Hands-on experience. How GPS works; when it does not work; possibilities for improving performance.

 

Unmanned aerial systems (UASs) have exploded on the scene in recent years, igniting a national debate about how to use them, how to regulate them, and how to make them safe.  This seminar will dive into the many engineering challenges behind the headlines: in the future, how will we engineer UASs ranging in size from simple RC toys to highly-sophisticated autonomous scientific and military data gathering systems? In this seminar we will examine the key elements required to conceive, implement, deploy, and operate state-of-the-art of drone systems: what variety of problems can they help us solve? How autonomous are they and how autonomous do they need to be? What are the key technical bottlenecks preventing widespread deployment? How are they different from commercial aircraft? What kinds of companies will serve the market for UAV-related products and services?  What business models will be successful and why?  Examples of UASs studied include imaging efforts to map the changing coral reefs in the South Pacific, using and controlling swarms of unmanned systems to perform search and rescue missions over large areas, and package delivery systems over large metropolitan areas.  Hands-on experience with Stanford-developed UASs will be part of this seminar. 

 

The workings of space systems remain mysterious to most people, but in this seminar we’ll pull back the curtain for a look at the basics of “rocket science.” It's an exciting time for space exploration. Companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin are launching rockets into space and bringing them back for reuse. NASA is developing the world’s most powerful rocket. Startups are deploying constellations of hundreds or thousands of cubesats for communications, navigation, and earth monitoring. The human race has recently gotten a close look at Pluto, soft landed on a comet, and orbited two asteroids. The upcoming launch of the James Webb Space Telescope will allow astronomers to look closer to the beginning of time than ever before.

 

How does a SpaceX rocket get into space? How do Skybox satellites capture images for Google Earth? How did the New Horizons probe find its way to Pluto? How do we communicate with spacecraft that are so distant? We’ll explore these topics and a range of others during the quarter. We’ll cover just enough physics and math to determine where to look in the sky for a spacecraft, planet, or star. Then we’ll check our math by going outside for an evening pizza party observing these objects in the night sky. We’ll also visit a spacecraft production facility or Mission Operations Center to see theory put into practice.