EAPS 591–Spacecraft Planetary Instrumentation

Prof. Roger Wiens

 Email: rwiens@purdue.edu

Office: Hamp 3223, hours TBD

Course Information

Spring 2025, 3 credits

Mondays, Wednesdays 4:30-5:45

HAMP location TBD 

Course Description: This course will educate students on the basic design and operation of planetary-science instruments in space. Instrumentation covers many different techniques over many different portions of the optical spectrum, detection of particles and fields, and sample handling techniques on planetary bodies. Topics for defining instruments and their capabilities within a given mission, such as traceability matrices and proposal techniques, will also be discussed. In-class lectures and discussion will be important components of this course. All students will be expected to read several papers per week and answer questions on the readings. Each student will participate in giving a lecture and leading discussion on two to three topics, based on assigned papers. Each student will also do an in-depth study of one of several design packages used for developing instruments. These include Zemax (optical design), SIMION (ion optics for space physics and mass spectrometer designs), MCNP (nuclear particles); illustrations are shown above.

Prerequisites: Senior or graduate status is strongly recommended. All should have some knowledge of planetary science and some physics / engineering background.

Learning Resources and Materials: There is no textbook for this course. Each week students will read relevant literature that is provided in the Brightspace learning management system. All reading materials will be available there.

Learning Outcomes

• Be exposed to the various types of instrumentation used in planetary exploration
• Gain a basic understanding of how various types of planetary instruments work including various types of detectors, cameras, spectrometers, and mechanisms
• Learn and experience how instrument parameters are defined and selected based on scientific objectives of the mission
• Gain proficiency in comprehension of instrumentation and spacecraft details and in presenting them
• Learn about design packages used for developing scientific instruments--also critically important for many terrestrial instruments

About the Instructor: Prof. Wiens has led the development of three novel instruments for NASA missions that include Mars rover, space physics, and sample return aspects.