By Simone D'Amico November 5, 2017
Group photo of AA 118N at SSL
Prof. D'Amico and the students of the course AA 118N visited Space Systems Loral (SSL) in Palo Alto on November 3. This trip was organized as part of Prof. D'Amico's course AA 118N (How to Design a Space Mission: from Concept to Execution). The purpose of the course is to engage first-quarter freshmen students at Stanford in the exciting possibilities of modern space exploration by exposing them to space mission design. The course focuses on systems engineering and how it is applied to accomplish some of the most ambitious engineering projects known to man, from human exploration of Mars, to the James Webb Space Telescope, and nanosatellites constellations for remote sensing. The teaching is based on Prof. D'Amico's own experience working on complex space missions such as GRACE, TanDEM-X, and PRISMA. As a key part of the course, the students gain first-hand knowledge of how systems engineering is applied to mission design through field trips to local Bay Area space companies.
At SSL, Prof. D'Amico gave a lunch seminar titled:"Advances in Autonomous GN&C for Miniature Distributed Space Systems" and shared his vision for R&D at the Space Rendezvous Lab (SLAB) and its connections to SSL's activities in on-orbit servicing and space robotics.
Simone D'Amico is the Founding Director and PI at SLAB
