Tthe Institute for Space Studies at Caltech presents Prof. Robert A. Fesen of Dartmouth University in a free public lecture, "Airships: A New Horizon for Science."
Over the last decade, a few commercial telecommunication ventures as well as several well-funded military programs have attempted to develop autonomous, solar powered, high-altitude light-than-air (LTA) vehicles known as airships, which could maneuver and station-keep for weeks, months, or even years. Wireless communications using a single, high-altitude airship could provide commercial high-bandwidth data services to consumers over a large area cheaper than via satellites, and there is increasing military interest in airships for real-time communications and long duration, persistent ‘over-the-horizon’ surveillance capabilities. For science applications, there are several distinct advantages using such a LTA platform over conventional high-altitude balloons and spacecraft and I will outline how this technology might be used to develop a remote sensing Earth observing post or as an astronomical observing platform which could return high-resolution data rivaling those from space-based systems at a fraction of the cost.
Robert Fesen is a professor of Physics and Astronomy at Dartmouth College where he has been since 1989. He received his B.S. in astronomy from Villanova University, a M.S. from the University of Hawaii, and a Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of Michigan.
The free lecture will be Thursday, May 2, at Hameetman Auditorium, California Institute of Technology, 1216 E. California Boulevard, Pasadena, starting at 8 PM.
No registration is required for this free event. Seating is available on a first come, first served basis.
