PHY 666
Cool Star Seminar

Fall 2003 Topic: NASA and the future of space science

updated 10/07/03

Four spacecraft are on their way to Mars, SIRTF is alive, and the HST is as productive a PR machine as ever (and the science is good too!). But the Space Station is not working out as a science platform, the Hubble Space Telescope is in need of replacement parts, and the future of the Space Shuttle remains unclear. The JWST is probably still a decade away. As missions become more costly, they become rarer. We face the loss of the premier optical/UV imager/spectrograph without replacement for the foreseeable future, and a long gap looms for X-ray astronomers after CHANDRA and XMM reach the ends of their lifetimes. Is this the end of the golden age of (space) astronomy?

Seminar Schedule
Date Topic Speaker Refreshments Observing/Meeting
Reports
9/11 Introduction Fred Fred
9/18 No Meeting: go see John Bachcall, 4:30, Wang Center --- ---
9/25 The NASA Roadmap:
Do we need directions?		 Fred Angeliki Kuyjin
10/2 The Terrestrial Planet Finder Gail Stefan
10/16 SAFIR Stefan Gail
10/30 Constellation X Angeliki Joel Fred
11/6 The next Decade in the Outer Solar System Chad Chad
11/13 Glast and SWIFT Kyujin Kyujin
12/4 Future Explorations of the Inner Solar System Tatjana Tatjana Fred
12/11 The Sun-Earth Connection Theme Bill Bill Bill


Note: this schedule is subject to change at the whim of the instructor.

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