ESP Biography



CYRUS FOSTER, Master's student in Astronautics




Major: Aeronautics & Astronautics

College/Employer: Stanford University

Year of Graduation: G

Picture of Cyrus Foster

Brief Biographical Sketch:

I graduated last spring from Stanford with a Master’s in Astronautical Engineering, and I now work close by at the NASA Ames Research Center where my duties include mission design, trajectory optimization and proposal writing.



Past Classes

  (Clicking a class title will bring you to the course's section of the corresponding course catalog)

E2962: Human Spaceflight Missions in Splash! Spring 2013 (Apr. 13 - 14, 2013)
This class will explore engineering achievements in human spaceflight, followed by a discussion of future planned endeavors while discussing their economic, philanthropic and political motivations. We’ll start with the first human missions to space in the ‘60s, such as the Apollo lunar landings and Russian space station missions, then explore current International Space Station (ISS) activities and then discuss future privately-funded and governmental human space missions that are currently in the planning phase.


E2425: Mars Rovers in Splash! Fall 2012 (Nov. 03 - 04, 2012)
This class will be a mix of science and engineering. We’ll take at look the recently landed Mars Science Lab Curiosity rover, as well as past rover missions to Mars. We’ll learn how these rovers are designed, assembled and tested (and how they land on Mars!). We’ll then look at their science instruments and discuss recent results and their implications on the possibility of life on Mars.


P1654: Interplanetary Space Missions: A Tour of the Solar System in Splash! Fall 2011 (Oct. 29 - 30, 2011)
We’ll talk about past, present and upcoming space missions to celestial bodies beyond Earth. Starting with our Moon, we’ll do a tour of the solar system covering all the planets, even former ones. Photographs and science data returned from interplanetary space probes will be presented and discussed, as well as the engineering behind how these distant robotic explorers are made. Did you know Mars once had rivers, lakes and oceans (and possibly still has microbial life)? Did you know that Jupiter has a Moon with more liquid water than Earth (and nobody knows what could be swimming down there… yet)?


P1655: Space Exploration: Asteroids and Comets in Splash! Fall 2011 (Oct. 29 - 30, 2011)
We’ll take a look at what exactly are asteroids and comets, where they come from and what they are made of. More importantly, what happens if one of these asteroids hits the Earth? How often is that likely to happen? We’ll also discuss the robotic spacecraft that have visited asteroids and comets and present the imagery and data returned from these robotic ambassadors. Finally, we’ll take a look at what a human mission to some of these asteroids might look like and when it is likely to happen.


E1338: Space Exploration: Asteroids and Comets in Splash! Spring 2011 (Apr. 16 - 17, 2011)
We’ll take a look at what exactly are asteroids and comets, where they come from and what they are made of. More importantly, what happens if one of these asteroids hits the Earth? How often is that likely to happen? We’ll also discuss the robotic spacecraft that have visited asteroids and comets and present the imagery and data returned from these robotic ambassadors. Finally, we’ll take a look at what a human mission to some of these asteroids might look like and when it is likely to happen.


E1003: Interplanetary Space Missions: A Tour of the Solar System in Splash! Fall 2010 (Nov. 13 - 14, 2010)
We’ll talk about past, present and upcoming space missions to celestial bodies beyond Earth. Starting with our Moon, we’ll do a tour of the solar system covering all the planets, even former ones. Photographs and science data returned from interplanetary space probes will be presented and discussed, as well as the engineering behind how these distant robotic explorers are made. Did you know Mars once had rivers, lakes and oceans (and possibly still has microbial life)? Did you know that Jupiter has a Moon with more liquid water than Earth (and nobody knows what could be swimming down there… yet)?


E708: Interplanetary Space Missions in Splash! Spring 2010 (Apr. 17 - 18, 2010)
We'll talk about past, present and upcoming space missions to celestial bodies beyond Earth. Starting with our Moon, we'll do a tour of the solar system covering all the planets, even former ones (think Mickey Mouse's dog). Photographs and science data returned from interplanetary space probes will be presented and discussed, as well as the engineering behind how these distant robotic explorers are made. Did you know Mars once had rivers, lakes and oceans (and possibly microbial life)? Did you know that Jupiter has a Moon with more liquid water than Earth does (and nobody knows what's down there... yet)?