Doyle Knight to Present "Space Exploration in the 21st Century"

Professor Doyle Knight will present a Byrne Seminar during the exploring the economic, political, and social impact of the extraordinary growth of space exploration in the 21st century. In the previous century, space exploration was dominated by the U.S. and Soviet Union. But the past decade has witnessed unprecedented growth in both government and private space ventures, and space exploration is now a prominent activity in many nations. Currently, nine countries plus Europe (European Space Agency) are engaged in space missions, and more than 50 countries presently operate earth satellites for telecommunications, weather, surveillance, and other purposes.

Three examples illustrate the breadth of 21st century space exploration: a private US company (SpaceX) now transports essential supplies to the International Space Station; China has now landed an unmanned vehicle on the moon; and India recently launched an unmanned space probe to Mars.

Course Number: 01:090:101 section 34 index 06389

Byrne Seminars are small, one-credit courses, limited to 20 students. Seminars are taught by our world-renowned faculty, who come from departments and professional schools across the university. By taking a Byrne Seminar, students get to experience the excitement of original research as faculty members share their curiosity, their intellectual passion, and how they develop new ideas and fields of knowledge.

Byrne Seminars allow students to explore a major or other disciplines of interest, connect to research faculty, and create friendships and social networks as they begin their Rutgers journey. Seminars typically meet for 10 weeks, and they are graded Pass/No Credit with no formal exit exams.

Each year the Byrne Program explores a particular theme through our more than 200 seminar offerings. In honor of the University's 250th anniversary, the featured theme for 2015-2016 is Revolutionary Research and Academic Innovation. We invite you to share in the Rutgers experience by joining Byrne Seminars for 2015-2016, and we look forward to celebrating together our university’s history, our exciting present, and our ever-expanding future. You can browse our seminars online, or download a catalog.