An Undergraduate Radio Science Laboratory

小行星9351533 该项目支持无线电科学本科实验室的发展。无线电科学设施将与一个夜间光学观测台和一个学生太阳观测台（基于定日镜）一起，作为传统物理科学实验室的替代方案：为非科学专业的学生提供使用和掌握最先进仪器的机会。该大学有一个无线电天线，安装和配备了低噪音放大器和连续辐射计，费用由教育部承担。在相对较少的额外开支下，两个主要的新活动领域正在向学生开放：星际气体的射频光谱学和基于月球反射信号的雷达和通信研究。 无线电设备在三个重要方面促进了非理科专业的教学：首先，在实验室的情况下，许多基本概念，如波长、电磁波谱、黑体辐射和吸收线，变得更加具体，因为它们与学生可以看到和“玩”的东西有关;第二，通过参加现代天文学家的同类活动，学生们对科学是如何进行的有了更清楚的认识;第三，这种实验室比传统的实验室更能吸引学生的兴趣。 在这个项目中设计和建造的光谱仪可以以非常低的成本复制。正在向其他感兴趣的机构提供印刷电路板、计划和软件。 ***

9351533 Palmer This project supports the development of an undergraduate laboratory in radio science. The radio science facility would join a night time optical observatory and a student solar observatory (based on a heliostat) as alternatives to the traditional physical science laboratories: as opportunities for non-science majors to work with and master a piece of state of the art instrumentation. The University has a radio antenna which was installed and outfitted with low noise amplifiers and a continuum radiometer at Departmental expense. With relatively modest additional expenditure, two major new areas of activity are being opened up to students: radio frequency spectroscopy of interstellar gas and radar and communications studies based on reflecting signals from the moon. The radio facility furthers the teaching of non-science majors in three important ways: first, in the laboratory situation, many fundamental concepts such as wavelength, the electromagnetic spectrum, black body radiation, and absorption lines, become much more concrete because they relate to things students can see and "play around with"; second, by participating in the same type of activities as do modern astronomers, students gain a clearer idea of how science is actually done; and, third, this type of laboratory has proved to hold the interest of the students much better than do the traditional laboratories. The spectrometer designed and built in this project can be replicated at very modest cost. printed circuit boards, plans, and software are being made available to other interested institutions. ***