Two of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken by NASA — the human exploration of Mars and the search for Earth-like planets outside the solar system — will be the subject of a Nov. 16 forum at Southern.
The program, “Missions Possible: A Manned Flight to Mars; Finding ‘New Earths’ in the Milky Way Galaxy,” is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at SCSU’s Lyman Center for the Performing Arts. The event is free and open to the public.
The Kepler Mission has identified more than 1,000 planets that are in a “habitable zone,” – an area in which their orbits are neither too close nor too far away from their suns to support life. Most recently, a planet 1,400 light years away called Kepler 452(b) shows the most promise to date of being able to sustain life. The planet has been dubbed “Earth’s older, larger cousin.”
Steve Howell, project scientist for Kepler, will be the keynote speaker. Howell is involved in NASA educational outreach programs and specializes in research on variable and binary stars. He serves on many review panels and was most recently a member of the National Academy of Sciences panel on NASA’s Constellation system.
Meanwhile, plans are being developed for a manned flight to Mars for some time in the next two decades. While a manned landing is challenging, the development of a reliable return flight is a more difficult technological hurdle. The colonization of the Red Planet is also being considered by some, but would require means to deal with the planet’s thin atmosphere, lack of oxygen and barren cold weather.
Jennifer Stern, a space scientist for NASA at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, will speak about the plausibility of human exploration of Mars, as well as what the recent discovery of water on the planet suggests for the possibility of life. She is a member of the science team for the Mars Science Laboratory Rover Curiosity, which landed on Mars in August 2012.
A panel discussion will follow the two main speakers, and will include: Elliott Horch, SCSU professor of physics; Jim Fullmer, SCSU associate professor of earth science; and Tabetha Boyajian, post-doctoral fellow at Yale University and a member of the citizen astronomy organization, “Planet Hunters.”
Horch, a noted astrophysicist, has developed an instrument for the National Science Foundation that is used on telescopes to dramatically improve the clarity of cosmic images and has been used as part of the Kepler Mission. Fullmer is a veteran astronomer whose expertise includes understanding the weather on celestial bodies, such as Mars. And Boyajian is the lead author of a recent article published in a scientific journal about the lack of conclusive evidence that a natural cause was responsible for a dimming of light in front of a faraway star. It has led some – including many in the scientific community – to believe the dimming is caused by a superstructure orbiting around that star, perhaps created by an advanced alien civilization, though Boyajian said it is still only a longshot possibility.
A question-and-answer period will conclude the program.
The forum is being sponsored by the SCSU Office of Public Affairs. Last fall, SCSU organized a forum to mark the 50th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and featured keynote speaker Nicholas Burns, a former U.S. National Security Council member and diplomat. A program to analyze the impending 2014 mid-term elections also was held last fall.
Other recent programs have included an examination of the situation in Ukraine in April 2014; a look at the Millennial and post-Millennial generations in October 2013; and a preview of the presidential and congressional elections in October 2012, featuring political journalist Erin McPike.
Parking will be available in the Wintergreen Parking Garage on Wintergreen Avenue, next to the Moore Fieldhouse.
For further information about the upcoming forum, please contact Joe Musante, the forum coordinator, at (203) 392-5073, or at musantej1@southernct.edu.
#scsuastronomy.
