>> Ridley: This class is aimed at
rocket science. We design programs to do things like launch a rocket off of
the ground and have it come back down. And then we write a program to calculate terminal
velocity of a parachute coming down. 3D animation actually uses these types of tools and then we
apply those tools specifically for rocket science. The students have to design a satellite
mission. We design an asteroid that will hit Earth in seven years from now. And so
the students have to go
out and they will somehow divert the asteroid so it will miss
Earth. There's another project that we do, which is less popular but probably more relevant,
which is orbital debris cleanup. It is essentially an impossible task what it takes to actually
maneuver from one object to another object, and we want to give them that experience
of being a satellite operator. What we try to stress in this particular section
is how to take a very large question or problem, break it down into components,
and then try to
analyze each of those components. That sort of thing happens throughout college. A lot of
professors try to throw you off a little bit and ask you questions out of left field, and
you're going to basically freak out. We don't want you to freak out, we want you to say like okay,
how would I answer this question? Let's break it down into smaller things and maybe I know some
of the sub answers, and they know that I can't answer the big question because that's why they
asked i
t to me. They want to see how I think. I want to prepare the students, at least start
preparing the students, for those types of things.
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