March 1, 2018 at 10:30 pm

Science Cafe | Can You Hear Me Now…Or Later, March 7

Science Café presents Dr. Hans Kruse on “Can You Hear Me Now…Or Later” on Wednesday, March 7, at 5 p.m. in the Baker Center Front Room Coffeehouse.

What makes exploration of our solar system so challenging isn’t the vastness of space. “It is time,” argues Kruse, professor and director of the J. Warren McClure School of Information and Telecommunication Systems. “It is the time it takes us to get to places like Mars, and it is the time it takes to get a message from Earth to Mars.”

Kruse will draw on his decade of work with the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab on its next-generation communication software to convey the challenges, solutions and limitations facing humanity as we send expeditions to even the nearest planets.

Dr. Hans Kruse

Kruse will discuss the JPL Curiosity mission. It launched in 2011, landed nine months later and executed the most technically difficult landing sequence ever attempted by JPL without any ground control assistance. Kruse will talk about the need for autonomy in robotic systems and making astronauts much more self-sufficient during space missions.

He also will apply these concepts to Earth-based projects that take advantage of these communication capabilities to deliver e-mail to remote villages in Norway and monitor water quality in rural Appalachia.

Watch live or later on A&S TV.

Sciencé Cafe events are held on Wednesdays at 5 p.m. in the Front Room at Baker University Center. They are free and open to students, faculty and staff. Science Café is a venue for students to share their interests informally during a conversation exchange in a friendly setting.

The Science Café is hosted by Dr. Sarah Wyatt, Professor of Environmental & Plant Biology and Vice President of the Ohio University Chapter of Sigma Xi, and Roxanne Malé-Brune, Director of Grant Development and Projects in the Office of the Vice President for Research and Creativity.

Science Café and Café Conversations are sponsored by the Office of Vice President for Research and Creativity and the Ohio University Chapter of Sigma Xi.