|
|
PAST EVENTS
________________________________________________________________________________________________
|
AIAA DISTINGUISHED LECTURER PROGRAM - MAY 2009
In May 2009 the AIAA Sydney Section coordinated a national lecture tour by Dr Pascal Lee, co-founder and chairman of the Mars Institute, planetary scientist at the SETI Institute and principal investigator of NASA Ames' Haughton-Mars Project. Dr Lee visited five cities to give a series of public lectures entitled "From the Earth to Mars: Steps Towards the First Human Mission to the Red Planet".
Mon 25 May Sydney
Tues 26 May Adelaide
Thurs 28 May Brisbane
Fri 29 May Canberra
Mon 1 June Melbourne
Dr Lee also participated in Science in the Pub, 2pm Sun 31 May, Canberra, as part of the Australian Science Festival.
The Science in the Pub panelists Dr Jon Clarke, Dr Pascal Lee and Prof Malcolm Walter, with hosts Paul Willis (far left) and Bernie Hobbs (far right).
|
|
MT STROMLO OBSERVATORY TOUR
Thursday 22 January 2009
Advanced Instrumentation & Technology Centre, ANU Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics, Mt Stromlo Observatory, ACT
Director of Mt Stromlo Observatory Prof Harvey Butcher welcomed 34 AIAA members and friends to Mt Stromlo, before Systems Manager Mike Petkovic led a tour of the Advanced Instrumentation & Technology Centre, where visitors could view the Wide Field Spectrograph (WiFeS) and the Skymapper telescope instruments currently undergoing final integrated systems tests prior to their deployment.
Visitors also got to enjoy a spectacular view of the thunderstorm which raged over the Canberra area that evening!
Prof Mike Dopita and the WiFeS instrument.
|
|
PLANETARY GEOLOGY FOR BEGINNERS - SHORT COURSE
Dr Jonathan Clarke, Geoscience Australia, Mars Society Australia
Tuesday 18 November 2008
Geoscience Australia - Education Centre, Symonston, Canberra, ACT
A capacity group of 25 AIAA and Mars Society Australia members participated in Dr Clarke’s introductory course on planetary geology, which covered the different processes that resulted in the formation and current state of the Moon, Mars and other rocky bodies in our Solar System. The course also included hands-on activities in Geoscience Australia’s Education Centre and the chance to examine various geological specimens including several meteorites.
Dr Clarke graduated as a palaeontologist, moved into petroleum and coal geology, and completed his PhD in carbonate sedimentology and palaeoecology. Dr Clarke’s research interests include terrestrial analogues of Martian landscapes and developing exploration strategies for human missions to Mars. He has participated in Mars analogue field work in deserts in Utah, USA and in South Australia, the latter as the science leader of Mars Society Australia’s Jarntimarra expedition in 2001.
It is anticipated that Dr Clarke will lead a self-drive geological field trip of the Canberra region for interested members some time in 2009. Please see the Calendar for further information.
|
DESIGNING BASES FOR THE MOON AND MARS - TECHNICAL SEMINAR
Dr Jason Held, Saber Astronautics
Tuesday 16 September 2008
Ian Ross Building, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT
More than 60 people attended this technical seminar/pizza night to learn how a 'systems of systems' approach can be applied to measuring the performance of lunar and Mars base designs. Dr Held shared the results of a recent space base design workshop and discussed how scenarios such as space weather events, power outages, structural breaches and life support system failures impact upon the design of bases for planetary exploration.
|
|
NATIONAL SCIENCE WEEK EVENT:
PUSHING THE ENVELOPE - THE SCIENCE OF FLIGHT TESTING
Mr Antonio Di Pietro
Former Naval aviator and experimental test pilot
Wednesday 20 August 2008
Finkel Lecture Theatre, John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT
Nearly 90 people attended this public seminar, which was an official event of National Science Week 2008, for a fascinating insight into the science of flight testing. Antonio drew upon his experiences testing over 68 different flying machines, including fighter jets and helicopters.
Prior to the seminar, the AIAA Sydney Section presented its inaugural ANU Undergraduate Aerospace Engineering Design Prize to 16 Level IV College of Engineering & Computer Science students from the Turbine Tech Team.
|
|
SEMINAR: EXPLORING PHOBOS AND DEIMOS - THE ENIGMATIC MOONS OF MARS
Mr Michael West
Support Team, PRIME Mission Board of Advisors, Mars Institute
Tuesday 29 July 2008
University of Sydney, NSW
Since their discovery, Phobos and Deimos have been a source of puzzlement. Past missions have revealed these moons as irregularly shaped, heavily cratered, regolith-covered bodies that may be captured asteroids. Other measurements of Phobos suggest that it may have an ice-rich core that could provide hydrogen for spacecraft refuelling. Michael gave an overview of what is currently known about these mysterious moons and described two spacecraft planned to unlock their mysteries – the Russian Phobos-Grunt sample return mission and the Canadian PRIME mission. He also discussed how these moons could be used as stepping stones for future Mars exploration.
This seminar/pizza night was held in conjunction with the University of Sydney AIAA Student Branch.
|
MOLONGLO RADIO OBSERVATORY - FIELD TRIP
Saturday 17 May 2008
1pm – 6pm
Bungendore, ACT
Bus from ANU, Canberra
On Saturday 17 May, despite cold rainy weather, nearly 30 people from the AIAA Sydney Section, the Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex, the Canberra Astronomical Society, Mt Stromlo and the ANU took a bus tour to the Molonglo Radio Telescope at Bungendore, ACT.
Telescope staff showed the group both the mile-long radio collector as well as the control, processing and storage facilities. This telescope has twice mapped the southern sky at 843MHz, and participants were able to view the results of this effort while asking questions of the people responsible for operating and maintaining the facility.
After two hours of tours, the group discussed the day's outing over refreshments served in the living quarters of the telescope. A great time was had by all, with the return time delayed by 45mins by popular demand, and everyone expressed amazement at the capability of this facility - sitting in the middle of a sheep paddock just outside Canberra!
Adrian Blake, Technical Officer at Molonglo, discussing the mile-long radio collector.
|
|
FLIGHT AT HYPERSONIC SPEEDS - TECHNICAL SEMINAR AND LAB TOUR
Dr Andrew Neely
Senior Lecturer, School of Aerospace, Civil & Mechanical Engineering, Australian Defence Force Academy
Thursday 10 April 2008
School of Aerospace, Civil & Mechanical Engineering, Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra, ACT
Visitors learned about the technical issues that must be overcome for flight at greater than 5 times the speed of sound, found out about the latest research being undertaken by the University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy in the field of hypersonics, and toured their hypersonic shock tunnel facility and laboratories.
Dr Andrew Neely models spacecraft re-entry.
|
|
PUBLIC SEMINAR: THE CANBERRA DEEP SPACE COMMUNICATIONS COMPLEX IN 2008
Dr Miriam Baltuck
Director, Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex &
NASA Operations, CSIRO Industrial Physics
Monday 17 March 2008
Ian Ross Building, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT
Dr Baltuck gave an overview of the Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex (CDSCC) at Tidbinbilla, its history and the spacecraft missions it enables, as well as an outline of the missions and activities ahead for CDSCC in 2008. Participants enjoyed an extended period of informal questions and answers with Dr Baltuck.
|
|
ELECTRIC PROPULSION RESEARCH AT THE ANU – TECHNICAL SEMINAR AND LAB TOUR
Tuesday 27 November 2007
5:30pm – 6:45pm
The Oliphant Building
Research School of Physical Sciences & Engineering
Mills Rd, Australian National University, Canberra
Aerospace engineer Michael West outlined the latest work being conducted by the Space Plasma Power & Propulsion Group at the Australian National University on next generation spacecraft propulsion systems. Research on the Helicon Double Layer Thruster and Dual Stage Four Grid ion thruster were described and a tour of the laboratories was conducted.
|
|
AIAA DISTINGUISHED LECTURER PROGRAM - OCT 2007
Exploring Mars: The Journey of the Mars Exploration Rovers
Dr Mark Adler
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Monday 15 October 2007
6pm - 7pm
The Finkel Lecture Theatre
The John Curtin School of Medical Research
Garran Rd, Australian National University, Canberra
The Mars Exploration Rovers left Earth in mid 2003 and landed on the planet Mars in January 2004. Since then they have been examining evidence of an ancient Mars that had liquid water at the surface billions of years ago, and that may have had the necessary conditions to support life. This lecture covered: why Mars is such an interesting place to explore scientifically and culturally, a short history of Mars exploration by spacecraft, what the Mars Exploration Rovers look like and how they work, how they were designed, built, and tested, how they are operated on Mars, what scientific discoveries they have made, and the current status and prospects for their future. The talk ended with an overview of NASA's future planned and imagined missions to Mars.
|
|
|
