A brilliant takedown and exposé of the great con job of the twenty-first century—the metaverse, crypto, space travel, transhumanism—being sold by four billionaires (Peter Thiel, Mark Zuckerberg, Marc Andreesen, Elon Musk), leading to the degeneration and bankruptcy of our society.

At a time when the crises of income inequality, climate, and democracy are compounding to create epic wealth disparity and the prospect of a second American civil war, four billionaires are hyping schemes that are designed to divert our attention away from issues that really matter. Each scheme—the metaverse, cryptocurrency, space travel, and transhumanism—is an existential threat in moral, political, and economic terms.

In The End of Reality¸ Jonathan Taplin provides perceptive insight into the personal backgrounds and cultural power of these billionaires—Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Marc Andreesen (“The Four”) —and shows how their tech monopolies have brought middle-class wage stagnation, the hollowing out of many American towns, a radical increase in income inequality, and unbounded public acrimony. Meanwhile, the enormous amount of taxpayer money to be funneled into the dystopian ventures of "The Four," the benefits of which will accrue to billionaires, exacerbate these disturbing trends.

The End of Reality is both scathing critique and reform agenda that replaces the warped worldview of "The Four" with a vision of regenerative economics that seeks to build a sustainable society with healthy growth and full employment.

Nonlinear Kalman Filter for Multi-Sensor Navigation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles covers state estimation development approaches for Mini-UAV. The book focuses on Kalman filtering technics for UAV design, proposing a new design methodology and case study related to inertial navigation systems for drones. Both simulation and real experiment results are presented, thus showing new and promising perspectives.

Sustainable Composites for Aerospace Applications presents innovative advances in the fabrication, characterization and applications of LDH polymer nanocomposites. It covers fundamental structural and chemical knowledge and explores various properties and characterization techniques, including microscopic, spectroscopic and mechanical behaviors. Users will find a strong focus on the potential applications of LDH polymer nanocomposites, such as in energy, electronics, electromagnetic shielding, biomedical, agricultural, food packaging and water purification functions. This book provides comprehensive coverage of cutting-edge research in the field of LDH polymer nanocomposites and future applications, and is an essential read for all academics, researchers, engineers and students working in this area.

Unmanned air vehicles are becoming increasingly popular alternatives for private applications which include, but are not limited to, fire fighting, search and rescue, atmospheric data collection, and crop surveys, to name a few. Among these vehicles are avian-inspired, flapping-wing designs, which are safe to operate near humans and are required to carry payloads while achieving manoeuverability and agility in low speed flight. Conventional methods and tools fall short of achieving the desired performance metrics and requirements of such craft. Flight dynamics and system identification for modern feedback control provides an in-depth study of the difficulties associated with achieving controlled performance in flapping-wing, avian-inspired flight, and a new model paradigm is derived using analytical and experimental methods, with which a controls designer may then apply familiar tools. This title consists of eight chapters and covers flapping-wing aircraft and flight dynamics, before looking at nonlinear, multibody modelling as well as flight testing and instrumentation. Later chapters examine system identification from flight test data, feedback control and linearization.
Presents experimental flight data for validation and verification of modelled dynamics, thus illustrating the deficiencies and difficulties associated with modelling flapping-wing flightDerives a new flight dynamics model needed to model avian-inspired vehicles, based on nonlinear multibody dynamicsExtracts aerodynamic models of flapping flight from experimental flight data and system identification techniques

Compressibility, Turbulence and High Speed Flow introduces the reader to the field of compressible turbulence and compressible turbulent flows across a broad speed range, through a unique complimentary treatment of both the theoretical foundations and the measurement and analysis tools currently used.

The book provides the reader with the necessary background and current trends in the theoretical and experimental aspects of compressible turbulent flows and compressible turbulence. Detailed derivations of the pertinent equations describing the motion of such turbulent flows is provided and an extensive discussion of the various approaches used in predicting both free shear and wall bounded flows is presented. Experimental measurement techniques common to the compressible flow regime are introduced with particular emphasis on the unique challenges presented by high speed flows. Both experimental and numerical simulation work is supplied throughout to provide the reader with an overall perspective of current trends.

An introduction to current techniques in compressible turbulent flow analysis
An approach that enables engineers to identify and solve complex compressible flow challenges
Prediction methodologies, including the Reynolds-averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) method, scale filtered methods and direct numerical simulation (DNS)
Current strategies focusing on compressible flow control

MEMS for automotive and aerospace applications reviews the use of Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems (MEMS) in developing solutions to the unique challenges presented by the automotive and aerospace industries.
Part one explores MEMS for a variety of automotive applications. The role of MEMS in passenger safety and comfort, sensors for automotive vehicle stability control applications and automotive tire pressure monitoring systems are considered, along with pressure and flow sensors for engine management, and RF MEMS for automotive radar sensors. Part two then goes on to explore MEMS for aerospace applications, including devices for active drag reduction in aerospace applications, inertial navigation and structural health monitoring systems, and thrusters for nano- and pico-satellites. A selection of case studies are used to explore MEMS for harsh environment sensors in aerospace applications, before the book concludes by considering the use of MEMS in space exploration and exploitation.
With its distinguished editors and international team of expert contributors, MEMS for automotive and aerospace applications is a key tool for MEMS manufacturers and all scientists, engineers and academics working on MEMS and intelligent systems for transportation.
Chapters consider the role of MEMS in a number of automotive applications, including passenger safety and comfort, vehicle stability and controlMEMS for aerospace applications are also discussed, including active drag reduction, inertial navigation and structural health monitoring systemsPresents a number of case studies exploring MEMS for harsh environment sensors in aerospace

Welding and joining techniques play an essential role in both the manufacture and in-service repair of aerospace structures and components, and these techniques become more advanced as new, complex materials are developed. Welding and joining of aerospace materials provides an in-depth review of different techniques for joining metallic and non-metallic aerospace materials.
Part one opens with a chapter on recently developed welding techniques for aerospace materials. The next few chapters focus on different types of welding such as inertia friction, laser and hybrid laser-arc welding. The final chapter in part one discusses the important issue of heat affected zone cracking in welded superalloys. Part two covers other joining techniques, including chapters on riveting, composite-to-metal bonding, diffusion bonding and recent improvements in bonding metals. Part two concludes with a chapter focusing on the use of high-temperature brazing in aerospace engineering. Finally, an appendix to the book covers the important issue of linear friction welding.
With its distinguished editor and international team of contributors, Welding and joining of aerospace materials is an essential reference for engineers and designers in the aerospace, materials and welding and joining industries, as well as companies and other organisations operating in these sectors and all those with an academic research interest in the subject.
Provides an in-depth review of different techniques for joining metallic and non-metallic aerospace materialsDiscusses the important issue of heat affected zone cracking in welded superalloysCovers many joining techniques, including riveting, composite-to-metal bonding and diffusion bonding

Aimed at students, faculty and professionals in the aerospace field, this book provides practical information on the development, analysis, and control of a single and/or multiple spacecraft in space. This book is divided into two major sections: single and multiple satellite motion. The first section analyses the orbital mechanics, orbital perturbations, and attitude dynamics of a single satellite around the Earth. Using the knowledge of a single satellite motion, the translation of a group of satellites called formation flying or constellation is explained. Formation flying has been one of the main research topics over the last few years and this book explains different control approaches to control the satellite attitude motion and/or to maintain the constellation together. The control schemes are explained in the discrete domain such that it can be easily implemented on the computer on board the satellite. The key objective of this book is to show the reader the practical and the implementation process in the discrete domain.
Explains the orbital motion and principal perturbations affecting the satelliteUses the Ares V rocket as an example to explain the attitude motion of a space vehiclePresents the practical approach for different control actuators that can be used in a satellite

Written with students of aerospace or aeronautical engineering firmly in mind, this is a practical and wide-ranging book that draws together the various theoretical elements of aircraft design - structures, aerodynamics, propulsion, control and others - and guides the reader in applying them in practice. Based on a range of detailed real-life aircraft design projects, including military training, commercial and concept aircraft, the experienced UK and US based authors present engineering students with an essential toolkit and reference to support their own project work. All aircraft projects are unique and it is impossible to provide a template for the work involved in the design process. However, with the knowledge of the steps in the initial design process and of previous experience from similar projects, students will be freer to concentrate on the innovative and analytical aspects of their course project. The authors bring a unique combination of perspectives and experience to this text. It reflects both British and American academic practices in teaching aircraft design. Lloyd Jenkinson has taught aircraft design at both Loughborough and Southampton universities in the UK and Jim Marchman has taught both aircraft and spacecraft design at Virginia Tech in the US.

The inspiring story of a pathbreaking 1919 flight and the courageous fliers who risked their lives to make aviation history.

In 1919, in Newfoundland, four teams of aviators came from Britain to compete in “the Big Hop”: an audacious race to be the first to fly, nonstop, across the Atlantic Ocean. One pair of competitors was forced to abandon the journey halfway, and two pairs never made it into the air. Only one team, after a death-defying sixteen-hour flight, made it to Ireland.

Celebrated on both continents, the transatlantic contest offered a surge of inspiration―and a welcome distraction―to a public reeling from the Great War and the influenza pandemic. But the seven airmen who made the attempt were quickly forgotten, their achievement overshadowed by the solo Atlantic flights of Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart years later. In The Big Hop, David Rooney grants the pioneering aviators of 1919 the spotlight they deserve. From Harry Hawker, the pilot who as a young man had watched Houdini fly over his native Australia, to the engineer Ted Brown, a US citizen who joined the Royal Flying Corps, Rooney traces the lives of the unassuming men who performed extraordinary acts in the sky.

Mining evocative first-person accounts and aviation archives, Rooney also follows the participants’ journeys: learning to fly on flimsy airplanes made of timber struts and varnished fabric; surviving the bloodiest war that Europe had ever yet seen; and battling faulty coolant systems, severe storms, and extreme fatigue while attempting the Atlantic. Rooney transports readers to the world in which the great contest took place, and traces the rise of aviation to its daredevil peak in the early decades of the twentieth century. Recounting a deeply moving adventure, The Big Hop explores why flights like these matter, and why we take to the skies.

45 illustrations

The pioneer astronauts who took America into space tell their personal stories about the challenges they faced -- their fears, joys, friendships, and successes.

Chosen from hundreds of crackerjack pilots for their fitness, intelligence, and courage, the original Mercury Seven astronauts risked their lives to cross the space frontier. In "We Seven, " they take readers behind the scenes to show them their training, technology, and teamwork, and to share personal stories, including the lighter moments of their mission. They bring readers inside the Mercury program -- even into the space capsules themselves. "We Seven" straps you in with the astronauts and rockets you along for the ride.

Share Alan Shepard's exhilaration as he breaks through the earth's atmosphere. Endure moments of panic with Gus Grissom when his hatch blows, stranding him in the open sea. Race with John Glenn as he makes split-second life-or-death maneuvers during reentry, and feel his relief when he emerges safe but drenched with sweat.

Despite such heroism, Project Mercury was more than the story of individual missions. It defined the manned space flight program to come, from Gemini through Apollo. In "We Seven, " America's original astronauts tell us firsthand -- as only they can -- about the space program they pioneered, and share with us the hopes and dreams of the U.S. at the dawn of a new era.

If the United States couldn't catch up to the Soviets in space, how could it compete with them on Earth? That was the question facing John F. Kennedy at the height of the Cold War-a perilous time when the Soviet Union built the wall in Berlin, tested nuclear bombs more destructive than any in history, and beat the United States to every major milestone in space. The race to the heavens seemed a race for survival-and America was losing. On February 20, 1962, when John Glenn blasted into orbit aboard Friendship 7, his mission was not only to circle the planet; it was to calm the fears of the free world and renew America's sense of self-belief. Mercury Rising re-creates the tension and excitement of a flight that shifted the momentum of the space race and put the United States on the path to the moon. Drawing on new archival sources, personal interviews, and previously unpublished notes by Glenn himself, Mercury Rising reveals how the astronaut's heroics lifted the nation's hopes in what Kennedy called the "hour of maximum danger."

Productivity and Efficiency Measurement of Airlines: Data Development Analysis using R identifies and explains the best strategies for measuring airline performance. Each chapter measures airline performance through the model of data envelopment analysis (DEA), as well as other models, such as the stochastic frontier analysis (SFA), where applicable. The book thoroughly discusses topics such as financial performance, greenhouse gas management, and complex airline data analysis, employing appropriate models for each. Model methodologies are also discussed, making this in-depth coverage useful for all audiences, including students with a basic understanding of models, researchers and airline operators and management. Users will find codes for various data software that will help them generate results and quantify efficient practices. These results provide airline decision-makers with the essential information they need to create better policies and avoid underperforming practices.

PV has traditionally been used for electric power in space. Solar panels on spacecraft are usually the sole source of power to run the sensors, active heating and cooling, and communications. Photovoltaics for Space: Key Issues, Missions and Alternative Technologies provides an overview of the challenges to efficiently produce solar power in near-Earth space and beyond: the materials and device architectures that have been developed to surmount these environmental and mission-specific barriers. The book is organized in four sections consisting of detailed introductory and background content as well as a collection of in-depth space environment, materials processing, technology, and mission overviews by international experts. This book will detail how to design and optimize a space power system's performance for power-to-weight ratio, effectiveness at end of operational life (EOL) compared to beginning of operational life (BOL), and specific mission objectives and goals. This book outlines the knowledge required for practitioners and advanced students interested in learning about the background, materials, devices, environmental challenges, missions, and future for photovoltaics for space exploration.

Attitude Dynamics and Control of Space Debris During Ion Beam Transportation provides an overview of the cutting-edge research around the topic of contactless ion beam transportation for the removal of space debris. This practical guide covers topics such as space debris attitude motion, the motion of rigid materials in an inhomogeneous high-speed rarefied medium, gravity gradient torque, and more. The book examines and compares the various ways to control the spatial motion of space debris, such as engine thrust or altering the direction of the ion beam axis, and offers simple mathematical models for analyzing system behaviors.

Design of Control Laws and State Observers for Fixed-Wing UAVs: Simulation and Experimental Approaches provides readers with modeling techniques, simulations, and results from real-time experiments using linear and nonlinear controllers and state observers. The book starts with an overview of the history of UAVs and the equations of motion applied to them. Following chapters analyze linear and nonlinear controllers, state observers, and the book concludes with a chapter discussing testbed development and experimental results, equipping readers with the knowledge they need to conduct their own stable UAV flights whether in simulation or real-time.

Autonomous Navigation and Deployment of UAVs for Communication, Surveillance and Delivery Authoritative resource offering coverage of communication, surveillance, and delivery problems for teams of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) Autonomous Navigation and Deployment of UAVs for Communication, Surveillance and Delivery studies various elements of deployment of networks of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) base stations for providing communication to ground users in disaster areas, covering problems like ground traffic monitoring, surveillance of environmental disaster areas (e.g. brush fires), using UAVs in rescue missions, converting UAV video surveillance, and more. The work combines practical problems, implementable and computationally efficient algorithms to solve these problems, and mathematically rigorous proofs of each algorithm's convergence and performance. One such example provided by the authors is a novel biologically inspired motion camouflage algorithm to covert video surveillance of moving targets by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). All autonomous navigation and deployment algorithms developed in the book are computationally efficient, easily implementable in engineering practice, and based only on limited information on other UAVs of each and the environment. Sample topics discussed in the work include: Deployment of UAV base stations for communication, especially with regards to maximizing coverage and minimizing interference Deployment of UAVs for surveillance of ground areas and targets, including surveillance of both flat and uneven areas Navigation of UAVs for surveillance of moving areas and targets, including disaster areas and ground traffic monitoring Autonomous UAV navigation for covert video surveillance, offering extensive coverage of optimization-based navigation Integration of UAVs and public transportation vehicles for parcel delivery, covering both one-way and round trips Professionals in navigation and deployment of unmanned aerial vehicles, along with researchers, engineers, scientists in intersecting fields, can use Autonomous Navigation and Deployment of UAVs for Communication, Surveillance and Delivery to gain general knowledge on the subject along with practical, precise, and proven algorithms that can be deployed in a myriad of practical situations.

Scramjet Combustion explores the development of a high-speed scramjet engine operating in the supersonic/hypersonic range for various air and space transport applications. The book explains the basic structure, components, working cycle, and the relevant governing equations in a clear manner that speaks to both advanced and more novice audiences. Particular attention is paid to efficient air-fuel combustion, looking at both the underlying fundamentals of combustion as well strategies for obtaining optimum combustion efficiency. Methods for reaching the chemically correct air-fuel ratio, subsequent flame, and combustion stabilization as air enters at supersonic speed are also outlined. Further, it includes the continuous on-going efforts, innovations, and advances with respect to the design modification of scramjet combustors, as well as different strategies of fuel injections for obtaining augmented performance while highlighting the current and future challenges.