Space Environment
PostgraduateCUR-NPSC50022025
Previously CUR-SPC505
Explore weather events in space and how they can disrupt technology and celestial objects. You’ll use your background in STEM to unpack solar winds and radiation. Topics include CMEs and solar flares. Think about ways to minimise space weather impacts.
- Study method
- 100% online
- Assessments
- 100% online
- Enrol by
- 23 Nov 2025
- Entry requirements
- Part of a degree
- Duration
- 13 weeks
- Start dates
- 2 June 2025,
- 1 Dec 2025
- Price from
- $3,464
- Upfront cost
- $0
- Loan available
- FEE-HELP available
Space Environment
About this subject
At the completion of this subject students will be able to:
- define the parts of the sun and describe how it creates the solar wind
- explain and classify solar flares, coronal mass ejections, sunspots
- analyse and compare the range of effects each type of radiation causes on unshielded instruments, spacecraft and planetary bodies
- compare space weather effects on two planetary bodies at different distances from the Sun to infer best practice in spacecraft design
- The sun and solar wind; radiation in the solar system
- Solar Flares, coronal mass ejections, sunspots and their effects
- Radiation on unshielded instruments in near and far space environments
- Space weather comparison on 2 bodies at different distances
Space weather in the Solar System includes the solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field found in solar wind plasma. This subject will define these phenomena, describe the origin in the context of the Sun and consider the array of destructive effects they cause on spacecraft, instrumentation and/or planetary bodies. The subject will cover solar flares, coronal mass ejections, the solar wind, and the plasma that makes up the solar wind. We will cover mitigation efforts, both natural – Earth’s magnetosphere- and synthetic – radiation hardening techniques, that can be used to minimise or prevent damage.
Please Note: If it’s your first time studying a Curtin University subject you’ll need to complete their compulsory ‘Academic Integrity Program’. It only takes two hours to complete online, and provides you with vital information about studying with Curtin University. The Academic Integrity Program is compulsory, so if it’s not completed your subject grades will be withheld.
Find out more about the Academic Integritymodule.
- Report (40%)
- Test (30%)
- Analysis (30%)
For textbook details check your university's handbook, website or learning management system (LMS).
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Entry requirements
To enrol in this subject, you must be admitted into a degree.
Equivalent subjects
You should not enrol in this subject if you have successfully completed any of the following subject(s) because they are considered academically equivalent:
CUR-SPC505-Space Environment (no longer available)
Others
Students must have a Bachelor Degree in a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) discipline with a minimum completion of high school mathematics.
Additional requirements
- Equipment requirements - Audio video equipment required. Provide communication method.
- Other requirements - Access to the Internet.
Study load
- 0.125 EFTSL
- This is in the range of 10 to 12 hours of study each week.
Equivalent full time study load (EFTSL) is one way to calculate your study load. One (1.0) EFTSL is equivalent to a full-time study load for one year.
Find out more information on Commonwealth Loans to understand what this means to your eligibility for financial support.