Category: Courses
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Courses
LAW 3078: Commercial Space Law
This course will provide an overview of U.S. domestic legal regimes that govern commercial spaceflight activities, including those managed by the Federal Aviation Administration, Federal Communications Commission, Department of Commerce, U.S. Defense Department and State Department. The course will examine existing regulations and statutes as well as current discussions about changes to policy and law to address the evolving nature of the space industry and U.S. national space priorities. Examples include the Space Force, space traffic management, and oversight of emerging commercial activities in light of international treaty obligations. Course information
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Courses
HIST 4131: Outer Space—Plato to Pluto
Human beings, regardless of when and where, have looked to the skies and pondered, “what’s up there.” Answers and speculations have found their way into religious texts, scientific books, and the canon of world literature. Some reflections highlight the differences between the world above and the world we live in, others on connections and similarities. But from tide tables to horoscopes, a common conviction linking Antiquity to the present is that the world(s) above influences the world below. The subject of this seminar is ideas about and reflections upon what in the pre-modern West, from Greek Antiquity to early modern…
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Courses
SEST 6518: Space Strategy, Policy, and Ops
This course examines the extent to which space power theory, concepts, and operations influence national security strategy and international security. It identifies key space policy issues facing the United States and places them in the larger context of a changing international strategic environment. This course will briefly examine the historical and policy foundations for U.S. and international space programs and activities, including space policy evolution, international space law, and treaties. The course will also assess the degree to which traditional defense and strategic studies topics such as diplomacy, arms controls, and deterrence apply or do not apply to space activity.…
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Courses
SEST 6577: GIS for Security Studies
This course provides an introduction to geospatial data science and its applications to public policy, political economy, and international relations. The course will enable students to work with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) data structures and understand cartography, transformations, georeferencing, geocoding, and spatial analysis. It will provide students with hands-on experience in using open-source GIS software to visualize and analyze multiple types of data, including administrative records, historical maps, boundaries, weather, climate, roads, and satellite images/remote sensing. Applications will include data on elections, armed conflict, crime, public infrastructure, and economic activity, plus a series of specialized topics selected by students. Class…
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Courses
HIST 3415: Neighboring Worlds—The Moon, Mars, Venus, and Asteroids in History
We may be on the verge of a new era in humanity’s expansion into outer space. Space agencies in the United States, China, and Russia have all committed themselves to settlements on or near the Moon, and are building enormous rockets to make that possible. A growing number of space agencies have now dispatched satellites or rovers to the worlds near Earth: the Moon, Mars, Venus, and nearby asteroids. These machines have revealed cosmic environments to be more dynamic places – with more dynamic histories – than scientists previously imagined. Companies led by ambitious tycoons are introducing revolutionary technologies that…
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Courses
STIA 4403: Earth and Planetary Science
How did Earth become the planet we know today, and what can it teach us about worlds beyond our own? In this course, we’ll explore Earth as a dynamic system, from the crust that records our geologic history to the movement of water through aquifers, glaciers, and oceans, to the circulation of air that drives weather and climate. We will investigate processes such as rock formation, erosion, and biogeochemical cycles; examine the physics of blackbody radiation and the chemistry of greenhouse gases; and consider how these systems interact over short and long timescales. We’ll then journey beyond Earth to consider…
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Courses
STIA 2700: Space for Environmental Action
The class will introduce how space technologies can be used for societal benefit on earth and explore what a sustained human presence in the space environment means for our future. Topics will include the present and future state of public and commercial satellite earth observing missions, innovations in satellite-data applications for climate action and sustainable development, outlook on emerging space economies, and the sustainability of space operations. Course information
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Courses
STIA 4400: Space Diplomacy
Spaceflight increasingly serves as a powerful tool for diplomacy, fostering collaboration between nations and shaping global relations. This interdisciplinary course explores the role of outer space in international relations, examining how space programs, missions, and technologies influence political, economic, and strategic interactions on Earth. Throughout the semester, students will investigate how spaceflight has served as a tool of diplomacy, while also examining how diplomatic frameworks and negotiations are essential for space exploration. Key topics include the role of multinational organizations like the United Nations in space policy, landmark programs in space history (such as the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project and the…
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Courses
SEST 6631: Outer Space/Strategic Capabilities
This course will explore how outer space and associated strategic technologies are transforming the international security environment. The course will examine the role that outer space played during the Cold War and discuss how current technological trends are shaping today’s space security environment. Additionally, this course will explore contemporary topics like the rise of commercial space companies; anti-satellite and counterspace weapons; the growth of orbital debris; cybersecurity challenges; the creation of the U.S. Space Force; the emergence of China as a space power; and the potential for arms control and norms of behavior to help manage competition in the space…
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Courses
SEST 6632: Space Policy and Power
This course examines the evolution and challenges of U.S. space policies and strategies, space programs, and space activities within the context of technological, environmental, economic, and international relations theories. Integral to this process is the development of critical thinking on the utility of the space domain to further overall US policy and space power projection. By the end of this course, students should be able to utilize a variety of frameworks to effectively assess competing theoretical, doctrinal and strategic perspectives. Course information