This textbook is a compendium for further education of students and professionals in aerospace industry. It covers the fundamentals of aerospace and explains the details of technical implementations. These are organised in the border area of technical feasibility. The authors discuss constraints of space flight and key elements of rocket motors and power supply in more detail. The accessibility of the celestial bodies is tabulated and documented in the outlook chapter, in which the largest vision of space flight, humans to Mars, is explained. From the content: Historical Background Basic Principles Propulsion Systems Missions Energy Sources Materials and Lubricants Processes Products Projects and Payloads Launch Sites Environmental and Boundary Conditions Conclusions and Outlook Appendix with an extensive collection of formulas

"The Early Evolution of the Atmospheres of Terrestrial Planets" presents the main processes participating in the atmospheric evolution of terrestrial planets. A group of experts in the different fields provide an update of our current knowledge on this topic. Several papers in this book discuss the key role of nitrogen in the atmospheric evolution of terrestrial planets. The earliest setting and evolution of planetary atmospheres of terrestrial planets is directly associated with accretion, chemical differentiation, outgassing, stochastic impacts, and extremely high energy fluxes from their host stars. This book provides an overview of the present knowledge of the initial atmospheric composition of the terrestrial planets. Additionally it includes some papers about the current exoplanet discoveries and provides additional clues to our understanding of Earth's transition from a hot accretionary phase into a habitable world. All papers included were reviewed by experts in their respective fields. We are living in an epoch of important exoplanet discoveries, but current properties of these exoplanets do not match our scientific predictions using standard terrestrial planet models. This book deals with the main physio-chemical signatures and processes that could be useful to better understand the formation of rocky planets.

This volume presents a selection of advanced case studies that address a substantial range of issues and challenges arising in space engineering. The contributing authors are well-recognized researchers and practitioners in space engineering and in applied optimization. The key mathematical modeling and numerical solution aspects of each application case study are presented in sufficient detail. Classic and more recent space engineering problems - including cargo accommodation and object placement, flight control of satellites, integrated design and trajectory optimization, interplanetary transfers with deep space manoeuvres, low energy transfers, magnetic cleanliness modeling, propulsion system design, sensor system placement, systems engineering, space traffic logistics, and trajectory optimization - are discussed. Novel points of view related to computational global optimization and optimal control, and to multidisciplinary design optimization are also given proper emphasis. A particular attention is paid also to scenarios expected in the context of future interplanetary explorations. Modeling and Optimization in Space Engineering will benefit researchers and practitioners working on space engineering applications. Academics, graduate and post-graduate students in the fields of aerospace and other engineering, applied mathematics, operations research and optimal control will also find the book useful, since it discusses a range of advanced model development and solution techniques and tools in the context of real-world applications and new challenges.

This title analyzes distributed Earth observation missions from different perspectives. In particular, the issues arising when the payloads are distributed on different satellites are considered from both the theoretical and practical points of view. Moreover, the problems of designing, measuring, and controlling relative trajectories are thoroughly presented in relation to theory and applicable technologies. Then, the technological challenges to design satellites able to support such missions are tackled. An ample and detailed description of missions and studies complements the book subject.

The goals of the 10th International Space Conference on "Protection of Materials and Structures from Space Environment" ICPMSE-10J, since its inception in 1992, have been to facilitate exchanges between members of the various engineering and science disciplines involved in the development of space materials, including aspects of LEO, GEO and Deep Space environments, ground-based qualification, and in-flight experiments and lessons learned from operational vehicles that are closely interrelated to disciplines of the atmospheric sciences, solar-terrestrial interactions and space life sciences. The knowledge of environmental conditions on and around the Moon, Mars, Venus and the low Earth orbit as well as other possible candidates for landing such as asteroids have become an important issue, and protecting both hardware and human life from the effects of space environments has taken on a new meaning in light of the increased interest in space travel and colonization of other planets. And while many material experiments have been carried out on the ground and in open space in the last 50 years (LDEF, MEEP, SARE, MISSE, AOP, DSPSE, ESEM, EURECA, HST, MDIM, MIS, MPID, MPAC and SEED), many questions regarding the environmental impact of space on materials remain either poorly understood or unanswered. The coming generations of scientists will have to continue this work and tackle new challenges, continuing to build the level of confidence humans will need to continue the colonization of space. It is hoped that the proceedings of the ICPMSE-10J presented in this book will constitute a small contribution to doing so.

Introduces the reader to engineering magnetohydrodynamics applications and presents a comprehensive guide of how to approach different problems found in this multidisciplinary field. An introduction to engineering magnetohydrodynamics, this brief focuses heavily on the design of thermo-magnetic systems for liquid metals, with emphasis on the design of electromagnetic annular linear induction pumps for space nuclear reactors. Alloy systems that are liquid at room temperature have a high degree of thermal conductivity far superior to ordinary non-metallic liquids. This results in their use for specific heat conducting and dissipation applications. For example, liquid metal-cooled reactors are typically very compact and can be used in space propulsion systems and in fission reactors for planetary exploration. Computer aided engineering (CAE), computational physics and mathematical methods are introduced, as well as manufacturing and testing procedures. An overview on space nuclear systems is also included. This brief is an invaluable tool for design engineers and applied physicists as well as to graduate students in nuclear and mechanical engineering or in applied physics.

In Robotic Exploration of the Solar System, Paolo Ulivi and David Harland provide a comprehensive account of the design and management of deep-space missions, the spacecraft involved - some flown, others not - their instruments, and their scientific results. This fourth volume in the series covers the period 2004 to the present day and features: coverage of the Rosetta and Curiosity missions up to the end of 2013 coverage of Mars missions since 2005, including the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Phoenix and Fobos-Grunt, plus a description of plans for future robotic exploration of the Red Planet coverage of all planetary missions launched between 2004 and 2013, including the Deep Impact cometary mission, the MESSENGER Mercury orbiter, the New Horizons Pluto flyby and the Juno Jupiter orbiter the first complete description of the Chinese Chang'e 2 asteroid flyby mission ever published extensive coverage of future missions, including the European BepiColombo Mercury orbiter and international plans to revisit the most interesting moons of Jupiter and Saturn.

This book carries out approximate estimates of the costs of implementing ISRU on the Moon and Mars. It is found that no ISRU process on the Moon has much merit. ISRU on Mars can save a great deal of mass, but there is a significant cost in prospecting for resources and validating ISRU concepts. Mars ISRU might have merit, but not enough data are available to be certain. In addition, this book provides a detailed review of various ISRU technologies. This includes three approaches for Mars ISRU based on processing only the atmosphere: solid oxide electrolysis, reverse water gas shift reaction (RWGS), and absorbing water vapor directly from the atmosphere. It is not clear that any of these technologies are viable although the RWGS seems to have the best chance. An approach for combining hydrogen with the atmospheric resource is chemically very viable, but hydrogen is needed on Mars. This can be approached by bringing hydrogen from Earth or obtaining water from near-surface water deposits in the soil. Bringing hydrogen from Earth is problematic, so mining the regolith to obtain water seems to be the only way to go. This will require a sizable campaign to locate and validate useable water resources. Technologies for lunar ISRU are also reviewed, even though none of them provide significant benefits to near-term lunar missions. These include oxygen from lunar regolith, solar wind volatiles from regolith, and extraction of polar ice from permanently shaded craters.

This volume is dedicated to the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), which was launched 11 February 2010. The articles focus on the spacecraft and its instruments: the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA), the Extreme Ultraviolet Variability Experiment (EVE), and the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI). Articles within also describe calibration results and data processing pipelines that are critical to understanding the data and products, concluding with a description of the successful Education and Public Outreach activities. This book is geared towards anyone interested in using the unprecedented data from SDO, whether for fundamental heliophysics research, space weather modeling and forecasting, or educational purposes. Previously published in Solar Physics journal, Vol. 275/1-2, 2012. Selected articles in this book are published open access under a CC BY-NC 2.5 license at link.springer.com. For further details, please see the license information in the chapters.

This book explores the character and contours of the Asian Space Powers. At present, Asian states like China, Japan and India are found investing in space technologies with analogous social and scientific and probably with divergent military intents. Other Asian states like Israel, South Korea and Malaysia are also making investments in the space arena. States like Iran and North Korea are faulted for using space launches as a demonstrative tool to achieve strategic objectives. This work examines this entire maze of activities to unearth where these states are making these investments to accomplish their state-specific goal or are they also trying to surpass each other by engaging in competition. Explaining why and how these states are making investments towards achieving their socio-economic and strategic mandate this book infers that the possibility of Asian Space Race exists but is presently fairly diminutive.

Inside the epic quest to find life on the water-rich moons at the outer reaches of the solar system Where is the best place to find life beyond Earth? We often look to Mars as the most promising site in our solar system, but recent scientific missions have revealed that some of the most habitable real estate may actually lie farther away. Beneath the frozen crusts of several of the small, ice-covered moons of Jupiter and Saturn lurk vast oceans that may have existed for as long as Earth, and together may contain more than fifty times its total volume of liquid water. Could there be organisms living in their depths? Alien Oceans reveals the science behind the thrilling quest to find out. Kevin Peter Hand is one of today's leading NASA scientists, and his pioneering research has taken him on expeditions around the world. In this captivating account of scientific discovery, he brings together insights from planetary science, biology, and the adventures of scientists like himself to explain how we know that oceans exist within moons of the outer solar system, like Europa, Titan, and Enceladus. He shows how the exploration of Earth's oceans is informing our understanding of the potential habitability of these icy moons, and draws lessons from what we have learned about the origins of life on our own planet to consider how life could arise on these distant worlds. Alien Oceans describes what lies ahead in our search for life in our solar system and beyond, setting the stage for the transformative discoveries that may await us.

Since the publication of The New Science of Astrobiology in the year 2001-the first edition of the present book-two significant events have taken place raising the subject from the beginning of the present century to its present maturity. Firstly, in 2001 the Galileo Mission still had two years to complete its task, which turned out to be an outstanding survey of the Jovian system, especially of its intriguing satellite Europa. Secondly, the Cassini Huygens Mission was still on its way to Saturn. Its present success has surpassed all expectations of ESA and NASA. Astrobiologists still did not know that Titan was the fifth body in the Solar System that possibly contained a water ocean (including the Earth and the three Galilean satellites other than Io). For these reasons the book includes overviews of the evolutionary and molecular biology that are necessary. There is a discussion of other sectors of culture that are the natural frontiers of astrobiology, especially the humanities.

When Sultan bin Salman left Earth on the shuttle Discovery in 1985, he became the first Arab, first Muslim and first member of a royal family in space. Twenty-five years later, the discovery of a planet 500 light years away by the Qatar Exoplanet Survey - subsequently named `Qatar-1b' - was evidence of the cutting-edge space science projects taking place across the Middle East. This book identifies the individuals, institutions and national ideologies that enabled Arab astronomers and researchers to gain support for space exploration when Middle East governments lacked interest. Jorg Matthias Determann shows that the conquest of space became associated with national prestige, security, economic growth and the idea of an `Arab renaissance' more generally. Equally important to this success were international collaborations: to benefit from American and Soviet expertise and technology, Arab scientists and officials had to commit to global governance of space and the common interests of humanity. Challenging the view that the golden age of Arabic science and cosmopolitanism was situated in the medieval period, Determann tells the story of the new discoveries and scientific collaborations taking place from the 19th century to the present day. An innovative contribution to Middle East studies and history of science, the book also appeals to increased business, media and political interest in the Arab space industry.

In linguistics, one of the main areas of modern research involves the capabilities and possibilities of there being a "lingua cosmica," a LINCOS, a universal language that could be used to communicate with non-human intelligences. This book touches on the area of the development and use of a "lingua universalis" for interstellar communication, but it also presents concepts that cover a broad area of linguistics. Chomsky's paradigm on universal properties of natural languages, for a long time a leading general theory of natural languages, includes the strong assumption that humans are born with some kind of universals stored in their brains. Are there universals of this kind of language used by intelligent beings and societies elsewhere in the universe? We do not know whether such languages exist. It seems to be impossible to determine, simply because the universe is too large for an exhaustive search. Even verification will be hard to obtain, without quite a bit of luck. This book uses astrolinguistic principles in message construction and is helpful in clarifying and giving perspective to discussions on existential questions such as these.

April 12, 2011 is the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin s pioneering journey into space. To commemorate this momentous achievement, Springer-Praxis is producing a mini series of books that reveals how humanity s knowledge of flying, working, and living in space has grown in the last half century.
Tragedy and Triumph focuses on the 1980s and early 1990s, a time when relations between the United States and the Soviet Union swung like a pendulum between harmony and outright hostility. The glorious achievements of the shuttle were violently arrested by the devastating loss of Challenger in 1986, while the Soviet program appeared to prosper with the last Salyut and the next-generation Mir orbital station. This book explores the continued rivalry between the two superpowers during this period, with each attempting to outdo the other the Americans keen to build a space station, the Soviets keen to build a space shuttle and places their efforts in the context of a bitterly divisive decade, which ultimately led them into partnership.

In Shaping Science, Janet Vertesi draws on a decade of immersive ethnography with NASA's robotic spacecraft teams to create a comparative account of two great space missions of the early 2000s. Although these missions appear to feature robotic explorers on the frontiers of the solar system, bravely investigating new worlds, their commands were issued from millions of miles away by a very human team. By examining the two teams' formal structures, decision-making techniques, and informal work practices in the day-to-day process of mission planning, Vertesi shows just how deeply entangled a team's local organizational context is with the knowledge they produce about other worlds. Using extensive, embedded experiences on two NASA spacecraft teams, this is the first book to apply organizational studies of work to the laboratory environment in order to analyze the production of scientific knowledge itself. Engaging and deeply researched, Shaping Science demonstrates the significant influence that the social organization of a scientific team can have on the practices of that team and the results they produce.

The challenge of communication in planetary exploration has been unusual. The guidance and control of spacecraft depend on reliable communication. Scientific data returned to earth are irreplaceable, or replaceable only at the cost of another mission. In deep space, communications propagation is good, relative to terrestrial communications, and there is an opportunity to press toward the mathematical limit of microwave communication. Yet the limits must be approached warily, with reliability as well as channel capacity in mind. Further, the effects of small changes in the earth's atmosphere and the interplanetary plasma have small but important effects on propagation time and hence on the measurement of distance. Advances are almost incredible. Communication capability measured in 18 bits per second at a given range rose by a factor of 10 in the 19 years from Explorer I of 1958 to Voyager of 1977. This improvement was attained through ingenious design based on the sort of penetrating analysis set forth in this book by engineers who took part in a highly detailed and amazingly successful pro gram. Careful observation and analysis have told us much about limitations on the accurate measurement of distance. It is not easy to get busy people to tell others clearly and in detail how they have solved important problems. Joseph H. Yuen and the other contribu tors to this book are to be commended for the time and care they have devoted to explicating one vital aspect of a great adventure of mankind."

In the past decade, Paul Halpern has brought readers three stunning histories of science -- Einstein's Dice and Schroedinger's Cats, The Quantum Labyrinth, and Synchronicity -- that reveal the twisted, bizarre, and illuminating stories of physics' greatest thinkers and ideas. In Flashes of Creation, Halpern turns to what might be the biggest story of them all: the discovery of the origins of the universe and everything in it. Today, the Big Bang is so deeply entrenched in our understanding of the universe that to doubt it would seem crazy. And that is pretty much what has happened to the last major opponent of the theory, British astronomer Fred Hoyle. If anyone knows his name today, they probably think he went off the deep end-or at least was so very wrong for so long as to seem completely obtuse. But the hot-headed Hoyle saw himself as a crusader for physics, defending scientific progress from a band of charlatans. His doggedness was equalled by one man alone: Russian-American physicist George Gamow, who saw the idea of the Big Bang as essential to explaining where the Universe came from, and why it's full of the matter that surrounds us. The stakes were high! And the ensuing battle, waged in person and through the media over decades, was as fiery as the cosmic cataclysm the theory describes. Most of us might guess who turned out to be right (Gamow, mostly) and who noisily spun out of control as the evidence against his position mounted (Hoyle). Unfortunately for Hoyle, he is mostly remembered for giving the theory the silliest name he could think of: "The Big Bang." But as Halpern so eloquently demonstrates, even the greatest losers in physics -- including those who seem as foolish and ornery as Fred Hoyle -- have much to teach us, about boldness, imagination, and even the universe itself.

Communication satellites are a $144 billion industry. Is there any space-based industry that could possibly beat that market? 'Solar Power Satellites' shows why and how the space satellite industry will soon begin expanding its market from relaying signals to Earth to generating energy in space and delivering it to the ground as electricity. In all industrialized nations, energy demand is growing exponentially. In the developing world, the need for energy is as basic as food and water. The Sun's energy is available everywhere, and it is non-polluting. As business plans demonstrate its technical feasibility, commercial potential, and environmental acceptability, every country on Earth will look to space for the power it needs.

This book analyses the rationale and history of space programs in countries of the developing world.

Space was at one time the sole domain of the wealthiest developed countries. However, the last couple of decades of the twentieth century and the first decade of the twenty-first century have witnessed the number of countries with state-supported space programs blossom. Today, no less than twenty-five developing states, including the rapidly emerging economic powers of Brazil (seventh-largest), China (second-largest), and India (fourth-largest), possess active national space programs with already proven independent launch capability or concrete plans to achieve it soon.

This work places these programs within the context of international relations theory and foreign policy analysis. The author categorizes each space program into tiers of development based not only on the level of technology utilised, but on how each fits within the country s overall national security and/or development policies. The text also places these programs into an historical context, which enables the author to demonstrate the logical thread of continuity in the political rationale for space capabilities generally.

This book will be of much interest to students of space power and politics, development studies, strategic studies and international relations in general.

Light of the Stars tells a radically new story about what we are: one world in a universe awash in planets. Building on his widely discussed scientific papers and The New York Times op-eds, astrophysicist Adam Frank shows that not only is it likely that alien civilisations have existed many times before but that many of them have driven their own worlds into dangerous eras of change. He explains how dust storms on Mars, the greenhouse effect on Venus, Gaia Theory, the threat of nuclear winter, and efforts to prove or disprove the plurality of worlds from Aristotle to Copernicus to Carl Sagan have contributed to our understanding of our place in the universe and the growing challenge of climate change. And he explores what may be the largest question of all: if there has been life on other worlds, what its presence can tell us about our own fate.

The early 21st century marks a new era in space exploration. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the United States, The European Space Agency (ESA), as well as space agencies of Japan, China, India, and other countries have sent their probes to the Moon, Mars, and other planets in the solar system. Planetary Remote Sensing and Mapping introduces original research and new developments in the areas of planetary remote sensing, photogrammetry, mapping, GIS, and planetary science resulting from the recent space exploration missions. Topics covered include: Reference systems of planetary bodies Planetary exploration missions and sensors Geometric information extraction from planetary remote sensing data Feature information extraction from planetary remote sensing data Planetary remote sensing data fusion Planetary data management and presentation Planetary Remote Sensing and Mapping will serve scientists and professionals working in the planetary remote sensing and mapping areas, as well as planetary probe designers, engineers, and planetary geologists and geophysicists. It also provides useful reading material for university teachers and students in the broader areas of remote sensing, photogrammetry, cartography, GIS, and geodesy.

This book highlights the technological and managerial fundamentals and frontier questions of space science. Space science is a new interdisciplinary and comprehensive subject that takes spacecraft as the main tools to study the planet Earth, the solar-terrestrial space, the solar system, and even the whole universe, to answer significant questions covering the formation and evolution of the solar system and the universe, the origin and evolution of life and the structure of the material. The book introduces major scientific questions in various branches of space science and provides related technological and managerial knowledge. It also discusses the necessity of international cooperation and elaborates on the strategic planning of space science in China. The book can be used as a reference book or textbook for scientists, engineers, college students, and the public participating in space science programs.