Keck Institute for Space Studies - Short Course

The Keck Institute for Space Studies (KISS) invites all interested researchers and students to attend the following short course:

Multi-Functional Energy Projecting Systems for Planetary Exploration

Monday, May 19, 2014

8:15 am – NOON Short Course

Informal lunch provided from NOON – 1 PM

Hameetman Auditorium, Cahill Building, Caltech campus

Extreme planetary environments represent the next frontier for in-situ robotic space exploration. Missions for exploration will be followed by robotic missions for exploitation, and by manned missions. All these missions have one common problem: harsh, extreme environments (EE), where temperature, radiation, and other factors make the missions inconceivable at present. We propose to study an enabling capability for operation in EE, a solution applicable to all types of missions, which is to project and control a favorable micro-environment in the local area where exploration, exploitation or human visits will take place.  The systems that could provide such a capability are 'Energy Projecting Systems'.  The name suggests their two key properties: they transform the environment, and they adapt to needs by shape change/transformation. This short course will lay the foundations of the key elements of this new technology.

Speakers Include:

Adrian Stoica (JPL/Caltech) – Transformers for Micro-Climate Control

James Lyke (AFRL) – Reconfigurable Electronics and Advanced Packaging

Harish Manohara (JPL/Caltech) – MEMS for Deployables

Kendra Short (JPL/Caltech) – 3D Printing

Howard Bloom – Gardening the Solar System

An informal lunch will be provided to all short course attendees. There is no fee to attend, and no registration is required.  Seating is available on a first come, first served basis. For a more detailed schedule, and a map, please see: http://www.kiss.caltech.edu/study/adaptive/short_course.html.