U.S.A.F. Chief of Staff 2013 Professional Reading List Selection Nearly forty years passed between the Apollo moon landings, the grandest accomplishment of a government-run space program, and the Ansari X PRIZE-winning flights of SpaceShipOne, the greatest achievement of a private space program. Now, as we hover on the threshold of commercial spaceflight, authors Chris Dubbs and Emeline Paat-Dahlstrom look back at how we got to this point. Their book traces the lives of the individuals who shared the dream that private individuals and private enterprise belong in space. Realizing Tomorrow provides a behind-the-scenes look at the visionaries, the crackpots, the financial schemes, the legal wrangling, the turf battles, and-underpinning the entire drama-the overwhelming desire of ordinary people to visit outer space. A compelling story of the pioneers of commercial spaceflight-and their efforts to open the final frontier to everyone-this book traces the path to private spaceflight even as it offers an instructive, entertaining, and cautionary note about its future.

Storyline: by the year 2077, the US Mars program has had a functional self-sustained base on Mars for about 15 years. Cargo ships move back and forth with goods, a journey that takes just more than a year. Our hero is adventurous cargo pilot Guy Reisling. About this time, space science on Earth and star observatories conclude that a rather large asteroid will either hit the Earth, or come very, very close to a strike, in about five years. But our story is not about the meteor. The novel spans this five year period, during which time the Eastern Russian-Islamic/Ukrainian-Hindustan space program alliance on Earth, secretly launch their own ships to Mars, to take control of the US base there by force, and provide for themselves if and when the approaching asteroid actually causes significant Earth devastation. The US Mars base operations, with about 230 people who live and work there, are peaceful and scientific or research-oriented only. The base has no weapons or only very few, and functions year round in the hot and cold, very thin, almost non-existent Mars atmosphere, an airtight high-tech fortress at the feet of the towering Tharsis Montes mountains. Guy Reisling and his crew, Mars program director Lynn Rodgers-Smith, Mars-base commander Bojji-Than, and other colorful characters, have a year to prepare for the advancing Russian-Islamic ships, and then must somehow find a way to defend the base itself and residents, as the US Mars ships sent to save them, led by experienced space-pilot and Mars fleet commander Winton 'Kick' Berle, finally arrive months later. At the same time, international intrigue back home on Earth, creates an East-West conflict between the competing space-programs, and their considerable value to the future.

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.

Just what is life? What do we really know about God? What do we really know about the universe? Is there intelligent life out there? Are we likely to encounter aliens in our lifetime? Is there more than one universe? Will parallel universes soon be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt? These are just some of the questions that two friend have been asking since we were in grammar school together over 70 years ago. We have continued to speculate with each other about life, the universe, and the great unknowns that cause mankind to be such a special species here on earth. We have been living in different states, Mississippi and Florida, since high school graduation. One of us became an aerospace engineer and later a Vice President at Lockheed Martin Aerospace Company. The other became a trial attorney and went into private law practice. But we still meet, write, email and discuss our evolving thoughts and ideas. We recently decided to meet in Homosassa Springs Florida for a few days to chat about our ideas and see just what we really think about the answers to all the great questions of life and the universe. And although we did not discuss it outright, it was obvious that we may have been motivated to have this meeting because of increased interests in seeking answers to the questions: do we have souls and if so, is there an afterlife. We met in the wilderness of the springs to discuss and try to find the best answers available based on what mankind has learned to date and based on the life long questioning of two very curious old men. A series of modern day scientists and physicists from Einstein to Hubble to Heisenberg to Kaku to Hawking have postulated theories in an attempt to answer our most complex questions. Their once unconceivable theories are rapidly becoming acceptable and practical as billions of dollars are now being spent to test and prove the validity of their theories. We collected their findings and theories and drew our own conclusions about Life and the Universe and are publishing them in this book. We tackle some of the biggest questions of mankind with the confidence that we can arrive at the truth and convey that truth in comprehensible narrative. We felt that our findings and understandings would be of general interest to a wide audience, especially the 79 million baby boomers in the United States. We also thought that young people who are just beginning to form their opinions of life and the universe would find our materials interesting and useful. We hope you enjoy our efforts and even if you cannot agree with all of our conclusions we hope this book will stimulate you to continue to seek the truth about everything that is important to you. We are awed at the enormity of our universe. We have walked in the forests and by streams and are awed at the great variety and complexity of life here on earth. When we look into our deep oceans we see extreme life forms living even in the very hot volcanic vent flows from the ocean floor. Some of these life forms look like monsters from our imaginations. We have provided pictures of these alien creatures. We have found life in the extreme arctic conditions at the poles. Life here on earth occupies all environments no matter how severe. This suggests that we should therefore expect life on essentially all of the trillions of planets in our universe that have life acceptable temperatures. We believe that we will soon learn that millions if not billions of these alien life forms are intelligent; and thousands if not millions are more advanced than are we. It's just a matter of statistics and the older age of so many of the planets. All of our speculations lead back to the question: is there a God. We attempt to provide our views and the science on which we base our views. We hope that our efforts will, to paraphrase Oliver Wendell Holmes, stretch your mind with a new experience and perhaps change your life.

A concise look at the evidence that UFO's are real from both history and modern cases.

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.

Most people just accept that our universe is ruled by gravity; an assumption that is wrong. Evidence instead shows that the force responsible for all of the objects and events we observe throughout the universe is the electric force that enables current flow and therefore magnetic fields to exist. If we consider that the electric force is fundamentally one thousand, billion, billion, billion, billion times more powerful than gravity and that the universe consists of 99.99% plasma; charged matter through which electric currents flow, then you have good reason to open your mind and read what this book has to say.

Pictures and Text about missiles and rockets on display at Missile Park Museum, White Sands Missile Range (WSMR)

This book proposes a long-term space program for solar system exploration and travel to the stars in an aggressive, cost-effective way. It develops a new multi-stage space gun to shoot large payloads cheaply into space up to 150+ kilometers. It proposes new types of nuclear rockets for cost-effective exploration in the solar system, and eventually for use on starships - "short range" nuclear rockets for the Solar System, and "long shelf life" nuclear rockets for starships. Also, it describes long shelf life nuclear reactors of new design that have hitherto not been developed. Most importantly, the book develops detailed, faster-than-light starship designs (qualitatively in the text - no math, and mathematically in appendices). The key to faster-than-light starships is a faster-than light ion thrust generated by quark-gluon plasmas. This book describes how quark-gluon plasmas can be created in high energy ion collisions and how they might be used for starship propulsion. Several possible starship designs are discussed in detail as well as a mechanism for artificial gravity for disc shaped and cigar shaped starships.

Prepared by the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa for use by novice, amateur and professional astronomers, Sky Guide Africa South 2013 is a practical resource, offering information for the whole year on the movement of the planets, upcoming eclipses, the dates of meteor showers, as well as star charts to aid in identifying stars and constellations in the southern African night skies.

The book also presents a wealth of information in a clear and accessible way about the Sun, Moon, planets, comets, meteors and bright stars, with many supporting diagrams, charts, illustrations and images.

An annual publication, Sky Guide Africa South 2013 is an invaluable resource for anyone with an interest in the night skies of southern Africa; ‘… an absolute must for first-time star-gazers and professional astronomers alike’.

This is an engaging book ready to take you on an afternoon voyage through the cosmos. You help with experiments and learn some of the processes that go into making up scientific hypotheses on relativity, the speed of light and other light matters. Some humor is interjected to soften the dryness of the subject matter. Delightful illustrations will welcome you along for the fun. Come along for the ride and begin your adventure into light science. Find out why some ideas from days past are no longer considered correct and how that changes the way we will all look at the science of the stars in the future. W. J. McKee

Whether you are simply curious about our mysterious neighbor-the Moon-or a teacher looking for ways to teach concepts about the Moon without misconceptions, Everything Moon is the non-technical, comprehensive guide you are seeking. From theories on the origin of the Moon, to phases, tides, eclipses, geology, past, current, and future missions, to the Apollo Program, Everything Moon guides you through the science and history you need to understand the Moon and includes creative, engaging investigations to develop important concepts. Written with teachers and students in mind, Everything Moon is a book for anyone who has ever asked themselves questions about our view of the Moon: what causes the same face of the Moon to face Earth every day; is there really a dark side of the Moon; what causes eclipses, tides and phases? With clear explanations, images, activities, and examples, Everything Moon will not only answer your questions about the Moon, but will spark a lively interest in all things lunar.

The Doppler effect (or Doppler shift), named after Austrian physicist Christian Doppler who proposed it in 1842 in Prague, is the change in frequency of a wave for an observer moving relative to the source of the wave. It is commonly heard when a vehicle sounding a siren or horn approaches, passes, and recedes from an observer. The received frequency is higher (compared to the emitted frequency) during the approach, it is identical at the instant of passing by, and it is lower during the recession. The relative changes in frequency can be explained as follows. When the source of the waves is moving toward the observer, each successive wave crest is emitted from a position closer to the observer than the previous wave. Therefore each wave takes slightly less time to reach the observer than the previous wave. Therefore the time between the arrival of successive wave crests at the observer is reduced, causing an increase in the frequency. While they are travelling, the distance between successive wave fronts is reduced; so the waves "bunch together." Conversely, if the source of waves is moving away from the observer, each wave is emitted from a position farther from the observer than the previous wave, so the arrival time between successive waves is increased, reducing the frequency. The distance between successive wave fronts is increased, so the waves "spread out." For waves that propagate in a medium, such as sound waves, the velocity of the observer and of the source is relative to the medium in which the waves are transmitted. The total Doppler Effect may therefore result from motion of the source, motion of the observer, or motion of the medium. Each of these effects is analyzed separately. For waves which do not require a medium, such as light or gravity in general relativity, only the relative difference in velocity between the observer and the source needs to be considered. The Doppler Effect 1-3] represents the frequency variation of the waves, received by an observer which is drawing (coming), respectively it's removing (going), from a wave spring (source). If a bright spring is drawing to an observer, the frequency of waves received by the observer is bigger than the emitted frequency of source, such that the respective spectral lines are moving to violet. On the contrary, if the light source is removing from the observer, the spectral lines are moving to red. One proposes to study the Doppler Effect for the light waves, generally for the electromagnetic waves.

For the past several years, the priorities of NASA have been governed by the Vision for Space Exploration. The Vision was announced by President Bush in January 2004 and endorsed by Congress in the 2005 and 2008 NASA authorisation acts. It directed NASA to focus its efforts on returning humans to the Moon by 2020 and some day sending them to Mars and "worlds beyond." The resulting efforts are now approaching major milestones, such as the end of the space shuttle program, design review decisions for the new spacecraft intended to replace the shuttle, and decisions about whether to extend the operation of the International Space Station. At the same time, concerns have grown about whether NASA can accomplish the planned program of human exploration of space without significant growth in its budget. This book explores the current U.S. space policy and its ramifications.

Skylab's launch in 1973 represented a major milestone in America's space program. Intended to enrich scientific knowledge of the Earth, Sun and space, America's first space station was also intended to prove that humans could live and work in zero gravity for extended periods. The station's design originated from a 1959 proposal by Wehrner von Braun to use an empty rocket stage as an orbiting laboratory -- Skylab's Orbital Workshop design was built around a Saturn S-IVB stage. With a total length of about 117 feet and a mass of 169.950 pounds, the station was about the size of an average house. It included a multi-spectral solar observatory, two docking ports, and Airlock Module with EVA hatches, and a large habitation area. Power on-board came from solar arrays and the fuel cells of the docked Apollo CSM. Skylab was damaged by vibrations during lift-off, destroying an important meteoroid shield and one of the station's two solar panel arrays. The second array could not be deployed until the crew of the SL-2 mission made an EVA to fix it. The crew remained in space for 28 days, a record eclipsed by the next two missions SL-3 (59 days) and SL-4 (84 days). After the SL-4 crew returned to the Earth in 1974 plans were made to refurbish Skylab, but delays with the Space Shuttle program proved fatal, and the station re-entered Earth's atmosphere and disintegrated in 1979. Dating from just prior to the station's deployment in 1973, this informative book was originally published by NASA to explain Skylab's mission to the public. Featuring chapters detailing the station's history, design, components, operation, and research projects, it presents an important overview of the Skylab program.

A lavish coffee-table book featuring spectacular images from the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, the most powerful X-Ray telescope ever built Take a journey through the cosmos with Light from the Void, a stunning collection of photographs from the Chandra X-Ray Observatory's two decades of operation. The book showcases rarely-seen celestial phenomena such as black holes, planetary nebulae, galaxy clusters, gravitational waves, stellar birth and death, and more. Accompanying these images of incredible natural phenomena are captions explaining how they occur. The images start close to home and move outward: beginning with images of the Chandra launch, then moving into the solar system, through the nearby universe, and finally to the most distant galaxies Chandra has observed, the book brings readers on a far-out visual voyage.

In this third volume of a planned four-volume set of memoirs, the famous Russian spacecraft designer Boris Chertok, who worked under the legendary Sergey Korolev, continues his fascinating narrative on the early history of the Soviet space program, from 1961 to 1967, arguably the peak of the effort. Chertok devotes a significant portion of the volume to the early years of Soviet human space flight in the early 1960's. These include a chapter on the Vostok and Voskhod programs, which left an indelible mark on early years of the "space race," a lengthy meditation on the origins and early missions of the Soyuz space program, the flight and death of cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov during the very first piloted Soyuz flight in 1967. Additional chapters cover robotic programs such as the Molniya communications satellite system, the Zenit spy satellite program, and the Luna series of probes that culminated in the world's first survivable landing of a probe on the surface of the Moon. Chertok also devotes several chapters to the development of early generations of Soviet intercontinental ballistic missiles and missile defense systems. Chertok's chapter on the Cuban Missile Crisis provides a radically unique perspective on the crisis, from the point of view of those who would have been responsible for unleashing nuclear Armageddon in 1962 had Kennedy and Khrushchev not been able to agree on a stalemate. Two further chapters cover the untimely deaths of the most important luminaries of the era: Sergey Korolev and Yuriy Gagarin. Finally, historians of Soviet science will find much of the interest in the concluding chapter focused on the relationship between the space program and the Soviet Academy of Sciences.

The logic tables showing the possibility of God's existence as a living quantum field are presented along with the math laws of his existence (Base Infinity math and Supersets) along with entity related material.

For operating in severe environments, long life and reliability, radioisotope power systems have proven to be the most successful of all space power sources. Two Voyager missions launched in 1977 to study Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and their satellites, rings and magnetic fields and continuing to the heliosphere region are still functioning over thirty years later. Radioisotope power systems have been used on the Moon, exploring the planets, and exiting our solar system. There success is a tribute to the outstanding engineering, quality control and attention to details that went into the design and production of radioisotope power generation units. Space nuclear radioisotope systems take the form of using the thermal energy from the decay of radioisotopes and converting this energy to electric power. Reliability and safety are of prime importance. Mission success depends on the ability of being able to safely launch the systems and on having sufficient electrical power over the life of the mission. Graceful power degradation over the life of a mission is acceptable as long as it is within predictable limits. Electrical power conversion systems with inherent redundancy, such as thermoelectric conversion systems, have been favored to date. Also, radioactive decay heat has been used to maintain temperatures in spacecraft at acceptable conditions for other components. This book describes how radioisotope systems work, the requirements and safety design considerations, the various systems that have been developed, and their operational history.

The advantages of space nuclear fission power systems can be summarized as: compact size; low to moderate mass; long operating lifetimes; the ability to operate in extremely hostile environments; operation independent of the distance from the Sun or of the orientation to the Sun; and high system reliability and autonomy. In fact, as power requirements approach the tens of kilowatts and megawatts, fission nuclear energy appears to be the only realistic power option. The building blocks for space nuclear fission electric power systems include the reactor as the heat source, power generation equipment to convert the thermal energy to electrical power, waste heat rejection radiators and shielding to protect the spacecraft payload. The power generation equipment can take the form of either static electrical conversion elements that have no moving parts (e.g., thermoelectric or thermionic) or dynamic conversion components (e.g., the Rankine, Brayton or Stirling cycle). The U.S. has only demonstrated in space, or even in full systems in a simulated ground environment, uranium-zirconium-hydride reactor power plants. These power plants were designed for a limited lifetime of one year and the mass of scaled up power plants would probably be unacceptable to meet future mission needs. Extensive development was performed on the liquid-metal cooled SP-100 power systems and components were well on their way to being tested in a relevant environment. A generic flight system design was completed for a seven year operating lifetime power plant, but not built or tested. The former USSR made extensive use of space reactors as a power source for radar ocean reconnaissance satellites. They launched some 31 missions using reactors with thermoelectric power conversion systems and two with thermionic converters. Current activities are centered on Fission Surface Power for lunar applications. Activities are concentrating on demonstrating component readiness. This book will discuss the components that make up a nuclear fission power system, the principal requirements and safety issues, various development programs, status of developments, and development issues.

During the year 2003, hundreds of events will mark the one-hundredth anniversary of the Wright brothers' historic first flights at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The centennial year will witness exhibitions, lectures, television documentaries, films, air shows, flight recreations of Wright aircraft, the issuing of postage stamps and medals, the publication of dozens of new books and articles, and numerous other commemorative activities. One of these events, although not likely to make the evening news, is among the most important of all in terms of a lasting contribution to the observance of this ultimate aviation milestone: the reprinting of Arthur G. Renstrom's Wilbur & Orville Wright: A Chronology Commemorating the Hundredth Anniversary of the Birth of Orville Wright, August 19, 1871. Since its appearance in 1975, Wilbur & Orville Wright: A Chronology has become indispensable to students and authors concerned with the life and work of the famous brothers. No doubt every book on the subject published in the last quarter century, including three of my own, was written with this treasure close at hand. This volume is far more than a simple compilation of dates and facts. Renstrom was a master reference librarian and bibliographer with a passion for aviation and the Wright brothers. He brought his considerable research skills to bear on the topic, and the result is a richly detailed, ever-informative, often entertaining walk through the lives and achievements of these two extraordinary individuals. Renstrom was not content to offer a date with a one-line tidbit. His entries are brimming with information. This is a highly readable reference work that, believe or not, can be enjoyably read from cover to cover. The project was clearly a labor of love by a talented professional.

The extension of human activity into outer space has been accompanied by a high degree of self-awareness of its historical significance. Few large-scale activities have been as extensively chronicled so closely to the time they actually occurred. Many of those who were directly involved were quite conscious that they were making history, and they kept full records of their activities. Because most of the activity in outer space was carried out under government sponsorship, it was accompanied by the documentary record required of public institutions, and there has been a spate of official and privately written histories of most major aspects of space achievement to date. When top leaders considered what course of action to pursue in space, their deliberations and decisions often were carefully put on the record. There is, accordingly, no lack of material for those who aspire to understand the origins and evolution of U.S. space policies and programs. The documents selected for inclusion in this volume are presented in two chapters: one covering the Mercury and Gemini projects and another chapter covering Project Apollo. Each section in the present volume is introduced by an overview essay. In the main, these essays are intended to introduce and complement the documents in the section and to place them in a chronological and substantive context. Each essay contains references to the documents in the section it introduces, and also contains references to documents in other volumes in this series. NASA-SP-2008-4407. NASA History Series. This is an 800+ page volume.