Assuming military operations will occur throughout the solar system in the near future, they will occur within the interplanetary medium and on the planets and other celestial objects. This book takes a look at what of military space operations in these two geographic regimes of the solar system might look like. It also is an analysis of how both natural and military environmental factors there will affect those activities. The natural environment can be distilled down to the electromagnetic spectrum and the table of elements, and other scientific cataloging systems. Military operations within the solar system will continue to be affected by "weather." However, the weather outside the Earth's atmosphere refers primarily to the solar radiation that is propagated from the sun outward to the edge of the solar system. Military operations on the planets and the other celestial objects of the solar system will continue to have to deal with the same geological and geographic factors that they have dealt with on Earth. At the outset of the 21st century, military space operations are already a reality. They are focused on the zone of artificial satellites that orbit the Earth, which interact with military operations in the terrestrial atmosphere and surface. At the same time, private sector corporations and other organizations are actively conducting research and development of systems that eventually will enable them to do such things as build permanent settlements on Mars, the Moon, and even some asteroids. As these commercial enterprises continue to develop a new extraterrestrial civilization, the need for some kind of military "security" organization will become a reality. This glimpse into the future is done from the perspective of more than 30 years of combined experience as a military geographer, military intelligence officer, and computer specialist. Drawing from the experiences of NASA in space during the past 50 years, the author examines the "geographic" factors that have affected space exploration are applied to the hypothetical military operations throughout the solar system during the 21st century. From this analysis, the future of military space operations in the future can be extrapolated. For a more detailed description of this book, the author may be contacted at: [email protected] The science, engineering and technology that has been developed by NASA is seen as a treasure trove of data and skill sets, from which pontential lessions about the military geography of the entire solar system, and possible military space weapons and tactics might be inferred.

The European Space Agency has a long history of human spaceflight, flying in space with both NASA and the Soviet/Russian space agencies over the years. This book tells the story of the ESA astronauts who have visited the International Space Station over its first decade and how they have lived on board, helped construct the space laboratory and performed valuable scientific experiments. ESA has contributed the Columbus science laboratory as well as the Copula, the Leonardo PMM and the ATV supply ship to the station's infrastructure but it is the human endeavor that captures the imagination. From brief visits to six month expeditions, from spacewalking to commanding the Earth's only outpost in space, ESA astronauts have played a vital role in the international project. Extensive use of color photographs from NASA and ESA depicting the experiments carried out, the phases of the ISS construction and the personal stories of the astronauts in space highlights the crucial European work on human spaceflight.

The intriguing phenomena of the night sky are tempered by intimidation but meantime in the held of reverence of the apparitions observed. Current classification of meteorites suggests that there is a gap between and within different meteorite families. Taking into account meteoroid measurements by in situ experiments and oblique angle hypervelocity impact studies, it is found that the observed size distributions of lunar microcraters usually do not represent the interplanetary meteoroid flux for particles with the masses of minus 9 degree grams. With many more meteorites waiting to be found in deserts and strewn fields, it is likely that we shall uncover distinct new types, to the extent of tiny monocomponent interstellar grains composed of a few tens of atoms of carbon, nitrogen, iron, manganese, silicon, or radium. With predictive knowledge in meteor showers, regarding the 'senders, ' the ambassadors of coded messages, ' the patterns, the azimuth and timing, we would better understand the stability of our solar system, refine the chronology of its tricks and miracles, and develop more robust timescales for the accretion, or parent-body processes, like aqueous alteration, metamorphism, and differentiation. Of the books about meteorites are apparently no end, but this particular effort is an oddity with its design to entertain and persuade a junior reader. Through a tour with avid travelers - father jaguar and the cub, it lands us on colorful scenes of the annual meteor showers, accommodating us to the right lunar phase (so the moonlight would not steal the show), geographical location, and the month. Witnessing the fall of the 'shooting stars, ' we then find odd and conventional meteorites with the help of various quests and tests. The spatial density of the meteoroids is presently increasing with the time. With the wealth of knowledge in these 'messengers' we may define the reason our unique planet was created, the path it goes through, and the fate it complies.