The military is moving slowly but surely toward a world in which weapons will be stationed in outer space, and officials argue that these developments are essential to the maintenance of US national security in the post-Cold War world. Handberg explores these recent proposals for change and assesses the policy implications that might well result in a challenge to proponents for the militarization of space. Taking the reader through the first "Sputnik" launch and then the Gulf War, the first space war, Handberg introduces his audience to a broad overview of space as an arena for the conduct of military activity. He argues that the new policies are likely to result in a world that is less, not more, secure.

Both technologically and organizationally, the Gulf War served as a watershed for military and political leaders. As a result, the great changes occurring across the spectrum of space activities, as well as the commercial applications of space, have become particularly critical to the field. Handberg argues that one unintended outcome of current policy decisions could well be a resumption of the global arms race as powers jockey for positions in the heavens. Too much of the current military advocacy is premised upon temporary advantages, both military and economic, which will dissipate in time. The political leadership of the United States must be fully engaged in this debate, given its crucial importance for future American national security.

How the scientific community overlooked, ignored, and denied the catastrophic fallout of decades of nuclear testing in the American West In December of 1950, President Harry Truman gave authorization for the Atomic Energy Commission to conduct weapons tests and experiments on a section of a Nevada gunnery range. Over the next eleven years, more than a hundred detonations were conducted at the Nevada Test Site, and radioactive debris dispersed across the communities just downwind and through much of the country. In this important work, James C. Rice tells the hidden story of nuclear weapons testing and the negligence of the US government in protecting public health. Downwind of the Atomic State focuses on the key decisions and events shaping the Commission's mismanagement of radiological contamination in the region, specifically on how the risks of fallout were defined and redefined, or, importantly, not defined at all, owing to organizational mistakes and the impetus to keep atomic testing going at all costs. Rice shows that although Atomic Energy Commission officials understood open-air detonations injected radioactive debris into the atmosphere, they did not understand, or seem to care, that the radioactivity would irrevocably contaminate these communities. The history of the atomic Southwest should be a wake-up call to everyone living in a world replete with large, complex organizations managing risky technological systems. The legacy of open-air detonations in Nevada pushes us to ask about the kinds of risks we are unwittingly living under today. What risks are we being exposed to by large organizations under the guise of security and science?

Special Relativity, Electrodynamics, and General Relativity: From Newton to Einstein is intended to teach students of physics, astrophysics, astronomy, and cosmology how to think about special and general relativity in a fundamental but accessible way. Designed to render any reader a "master of relativity," all material on the subject is comprehensible and derivable from first principles. The book emphasizes problem solving, contains abundant problem sets, and is conveniently organized to meet the needs of both student and instructor.

It's happening now-plans are being formulated under the coordination of NASA to launch a permanent, manned space station by the year 1990. Studies surveying user requirements, system attributes, and architectural options have been conducted, and you're on the top of these far-reaching considerations on the next big step taken within space! Now that the Shuttle and Spacelab are realities, NASA has set sights on a new horizon-a permanent, manned space station in the high frontier. The precedents have been set-Skylab hosted human visits for up to 84 days, and the Soviet's Salyut was and is a temporary base for cosmonaut crew. The differences are the term and scope of space station living and the accomplishments that can be realized with a permanent site and continuous experimentation within its facilities. Brian O'Leary, writer, astrophysicist, and former astronaut, describes the "tinkermodules" that will be carried to the earth's orbit to be assembled as a space station. His inside track information also lay

These are the proceedings of the "AstroNet-II International Final Conference". This conference was one of the last milestones of the Marie-Curie Research Training Network on Astrodynamics "AstroNet-II", that has been funded by the European Commission under the Seventh Framework Programme. The aim of the conference, and thus this book, is to communicate work on astrodynamics problems to an international and specialised audience. The results are presented by both members of the network and invited specialists. The topics include: trajectory design and control, attitude control, structural flexibility of spacecraft and formation flying. The book addresses a readership across the traditional boundaries between mathematics, engineering and industry by offering an interdisciplinary and multisectorial overview of the field.

After pioneering this technology and growing the market, COMSAT fell prey to changes in government policy and to its own lack of entrepreneurial talent. The author explores the factors which contributed to this rise and fall of COMSAT.

This book presents a comprehensive geopolitical analysis of European space activities. By studying outer space as a physical and socio-economic space as well as a military-diplomatic area, the author helps readers understand outer space as a geopolitical environment. The book also offers insights into the behavior and strategies of different actors, with a special focus on the European space strategy and the nature of the European space program and diplomacy.

The book sheds new lights on the evolution of Russian space activities with a focus on their strategy of international cooperation. This analysis is carried out in relation to the evolution of the domestic and international dynamics that have been impacting the country's direction in space, with the ultimate goal of providing an assessment on their impact for current and foreseeable Europe-Russia space relations. Russia has traditionally been one of the two main strategic partners for Europe in its space endeavor. Hitherto, long-standing cooperation has been nurtured between the two actors in various areas, from scientific research to space transportation and human spaceflight. In recent years, however, a number of endogenous and exogenous developments has triggered significant changes in Russia's space posture. These changes are evident in the adjustment of Russia's space policies and programmatic goals, in the restructuring of the domestic space industry as well as in the attitude towards international space partnerships.

How does it happen that billions of stars can cooperate to produce the beautiful spirals that characterize so many galaxies, including ours? This book reviews the history behind the discovery of spiral galaxies and the problems faced when trying to explain the existence of spiral structure within them. In the book, subjects such as galaxy morphology and structure are addressed as well as several models for spiral structure. The evidence in favor or against these models is discussed. The book ends by discussing how spiral structure can be used as a proxy for other properties of spiral galaxies, such as their dark matter content and their central supermassive black hole masses, and why this is important.