Science in outer space

Physics 84.2: Science in Outer Space
Professors Steven Boggs and Robert Lin
Thursday 2:00-4:00, SSL Addition Conference Room/CCN: 70086 (P/NP)

UC Berkeley is involved in a wide variety of NASA scientific investigations in space. This seminar is designed to give students a hands-on experience on all the stages of developing a science mission for space. These stages include: outlining scientific goals, designing a scientific instrument, building and launching a satellite, and scientific data analysis. Each week students will read about a current space mission, and come prepared for a discussion with the mission's leading scientist. Students will also participate at each meeting in a hands-on demonstration of some aspect of that mission, from instrument calibration to data analysis. Science topics that will be covered include: the active Sun and space weather, the Earth's magnetosphere and auroras, Mars and the Moon, space dust and Space Shuttle experiments, the nearby interstellar medium, extra-solar planets, cosmic gamma ray bursts, black holes and neutron stars, and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Students must have taken Physics 7A & 7B. Obtain instructors' approval by putting yourself on the waitlist and attending the first class. All registration matters will be resolved during the first class meeting. We will make every effort to accommodate as many interested students as possible

Faculty Biographies:
Professor Lin's research interests are in solar and interplanetary physics, lunar and planetary studies, magnetospheric physics, and high-energy astrophysics. He is involved in many NASA space missions, including Lunar Prospector, Mars Global Surveyor, Wind, and Ulysses, and HESSI, which was launched in February 2002 to study particle acceleration and energy release in solar flares.

Professor Boggs is an experimental high-energy astrophysicist, developing telescopes that fly in space to study high energy gamma-ray emission from the most exotic objects in our Universe, such as black holes, neutron stars, and supernovae.