This book systematically presents the concept, history, implementation, theory system and basic methods of pulsar and space flight, illustrating the characteristics of pulsars. It also describes the classification of spacecraft navigation systems and the autonomous navigation technologies, as well as X-ray pulsar-based navigation systems (XPNAV) and discusses future navigation satellite systems in detail.

For all being interested in astronautics, this translation of Hermann Oberth s classic work is a truly historic event. Readers will be impressed with this extraordinary pioneer and his incredible achievement. In a relatively short work of 1923, Hermann Oberth laid down the mathematical laws governing rocketry and spaceflight, and he offered practical design considerations based on those laws."

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?

This book includes the proceedings of the conference "Problems of the Geocosmos" held by the Earth Physics Department, St. Petersburg State University, Russia, every two years since 1996. Covering a broad range of topics in solid Earth physics and solar-terrestrial physics, as well as more applied subjects such as engineering geology and ecology, the book reviews the latest research in planetary geophysics, focusing on the interaction between the Earth's shells and the near-Earth space in a unified system. This book is divided into four sections: * Exploration and Environmental Geophysics (EG), which covers two broad areas of environmental and engineering geophysics - near-surface research and deep geoelectric studies; * Paleomagnetism and Rock Magnetism (P), which includes research on magnetostratigraphy, paleomagnetism applied to tectonics, environmental magnetism, and marine magnetic anomalies; * Seismology (S), which covers the theory of seismic wave propagation, Earth's structure from seismic data, global and regional seismicity and sources of earthquakes, and novel seismic instruments and data processing methods; and * Physics of Solar-Terrestrial Connections (STP), which includes magnetospheric phenomena, space weather, and the interrelationship between solar activity and climate.

This book presents high-quality contributions in the subject area of Aerospace System Science and Engineering, including topics such as: Trans-space vehicle systems design and integration, Air vehicle systems, Space vehicle systems, Near-space vehicle systems, Opto-electronic system, Aerospace robotics and unmanned system, Aerospace robotics and unmanned system, Communication, navigation, and surveillance, Dynamics and control, Intelligent sensing and information fusion, Aerodynamics and aircraft design, Aerospace propulsion, Avionics system, Air traffic management, Earth observation, Deep space exploration, and Bionic micro-aircraft/spacecraft. The book collects selected papers presented at the 4th International Conference on Aerospace System Science and Engineering (ICASSE 2020), organized by Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China, held on 14-16 July 2020 as virtual event due to COVID-19. It provides a forum for experts in aeronautics and astronautics to share new ideas and findings. ICASSE conferences have been organized annually since 2017 and hosted in Shanghai, Moscow, and Toronto in turn, where the three regional editors of the journal Aerospace Systems are located.

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.

This book presents the proceedings of the International Conference on Aerospace System Science and Engineering (ICASSE 2019), held in Toronto, Canada, on July 30-August 1, 2019, and jointly organized by the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS) and the Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Aeronautics and Astronautics. ICASSE 2019 provided a forum that brought together experts on aeronautics and astronautics to share new ideas and findings. These proceedings present high-quality contributions in the areas of aerospace system science and engineering, including topics such as trans-space vehicle system design and integration, air vehicle systems, space vehicle systems, near-space vehicle systems, aerospace robotics and unmanned systems, communication, navigation and surveillance, aerodynamics and aircraft design, dynamics and control, aerospace propulsion, avionics systems, optoelectronic systems, and air traffic management.

This book provides a comprehensive analysis of time-fixed terminal rendezvous around the Earth using chemical propulsion. The book has two main objectives. The first is to derive the mathematics of relative motion in near-circular orbit when subjected to perturbations emanating from the oblateness of the Earth, third-body gravity, and atmospheric drag. The mathematics are suitable for quick trajectory prediction and the creation of computer codes and efficient software to solve impulsive maneuvers and fly rendezvous missions. The second objective of this book is to show how the relative motion theory is applied to the exact precision-integrated, long-duration, time-fixed terminal rendezvous problem around the oblate Earth for the general elliptic orbit case. The contents are both theoretical and applied, with long-lasting value for aerospace engineers, trajectory designers, professors of orbital mechanics, and students at the graduate level and above.

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.

Spacecraft Dynamics and Control: The Embedded Model Control Approach provides a uniform and systematic way of approaching space engineering control problems from the standpoint of model-based control, using state-space equations as the key paradigm for simulation, design and implementation. The book introduces the Embedded Model Control methodology for the design and implementation of attitude and orbit control systems. The logic architecture is organized around the embedded model of the spacecraft and its surrounding environment. The model is compelled to include disturbance dynamics as a repository of the uncertainty that the control law must reject to meet attitude and orbit requirements within the uncertainty class. The source of the real-time uncertainty estimation/prediction is the model error signal, as it encodes the residual discrepancies between spacecraft measurements and model output. The embedded model and the uncertainty estimation feedback (noise estimator in the book) constitute the state predictor feeding the control law. Asymptotic pole placement (exploiting the asymptotes of closed-loop transfer functions) is the way to design and tune feedback loops around the embedded model (state predictor, control law, reference generator). The design versus the uncertainty class is driven by analytic stability and performance inequalities. The method is applied to several attitude and orbit control problems.

This book proposes a framework for assessing countries' levels of compliance with international space law and norms. It begins by exploring the development of two movements - the evidence-based policymaking and programming movement, and the rise of ratings and rankings research - and their growth across various disciplines. The analysis suggests that such efforts are useful in gauging the behavior of countries in space according to how well they adhere to existing space law and norms. To date, there is no comprehensive, periodic, and systematic measure of countries' efforts to comply with space law and norms; this work endeavors to fill that gap by offering a framework in which to assess compliance. Applying the framework results in five possible ratings that a country may be assigned, ranging from highly compliant to non-compliant. Ideally, the proposed framework can be used to promote compliance, and with it, space security and sustainability.

This book addresses and reviews many of the still little understood questions related to the processes underlying planetary magnetic fields and their interaction with the solar wind. With focus on research carried out within the German Priority Program "PlanetMag", it also provides an overview of the most recent research in the field. Magnetic fields play an important role in making a planet habitable by protecting the environment from the solar wind. Without the geomagnetic field, for example, life on Earth as we know it would not be possible. And results from recent space missions to Mars and Venus strongly indicate that planetary magnetic fields play a vital role in preventing atmospheric erosion by the solar wind. However, very little is known about the underlying interaction between the solar wind and a planet's magnetic field. The book takes a synergistic interdisciplinary approach that combines newly developed tools for data acquisition and analysis, computer simulations of planetary interiors and dynamos, models of solar wind interaction, measurement of ancient terrestrial rocks and meteorites, and laboratory investigations.

Africa faces numerous challenges relating to good governance due to its vast and diverse landscape, as well as its history. This book explores the role of space-based applications in supporting African good governance by strengthening civil society, bolstering democratic processes and advancing socio-economic development. The increased use of such applications can accelerate Africa's progress towards the United Nations Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, as well as the African Union's Agenda 2063 aspirations This book examines key challenges facing governance within African to provide an accurate account of the current African context. It discusses specific examples of e-governance and digital solutions that leverage space-based technologies and have been successfully implemented in both the developed and developing world. In the context of the numerous satellite constellations being deployed to provide affordable Internet connectivity globally, it examines the major actors in this sector and presents additional governance solutions based on remote sensing and Earth observation data. Given its scope, the book will be of interest to professionals and students in the fields of development, governance and space studies.

The book provides a structural analysis of the European space effort from an institute change perspective. It analyzes the EU-ESA inter-institutional relationship, gives an overview of the development of space policy in Europe, and advances the debate about the impact of the European integration process on existing institutional actors. While European Space collaboration was initially developed outside the competences of the European Union (EU) with space programmes being carried out almost exclusively under the framework of European Space Agency (ESA) and national agencies, the EU has gained "shared competences" (Art. 2, TFEU) in space policy following the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty. Currently the EU and ESA work together under a Framework Agreement. In 2016, the EU Commission has published a Communication entitled "European Space Policy" (ESP). Even though ESA's Member States have agreed to keep ESA as an intergovernmental organisation during the ESA Ministerial Council of 2014, the discussion about ESA becoming part of the EU framework continues. The EU's ambitions for leadership in European space policy raise question concerning the future of ESA. The study of institutions lies at the heart of political sciences. Strikingly the theoretic framework qualifying institutional change and making it comparable leaves room for more concrete and testable dimensions of institutional change.

This monograph traces the development of our understanding of how and where energetic particles are accelerated in the heliosphere and how they may reach the Earth. Detailed data sets are presented which address these topics. The bulk of the observations are from spacecraft in or near the ecliptic plane. It is timely to present this subject now that Voyager-1 has entered the true interstellar medium. Since it seems unlikely that there will be a follow-on to the Voyager programme any time soon, the data we already have regarding the outer heliosphere are not going to be enhanced for at least 40 years.

Origins of the Earth, Moon, and Life: An Interdisciplinary Approach presents state-of-the-art knowledge that is based on theories, experiments, observations, calculations, and analytical data from five astro-sciences, astronomy, astrobiology, astrogeology, astrophysics, and cosmochemistry. Beginning with the origin of elements, and moving on to cover the formation of the early Solar System, the giant impact model of the Earth and Moon, the oldest records of life, and the possibility of life on other planets in the Solar System, this interdisciplinary reference provides a complex understanding of the planets and the formation of life. Synthesizing concepts from all branches of astro-sciences into one, the book is a valuable reference for researchers in astrogeology, astrophysics, cosmochemistry, astrobiology, astronomy, and other space science fields, helping users better understand the intersection of these sciences.

This thesis focuses on the very high Mach number shock wave that is located sunward of Saturn's strong magnetic field in the continuous high-speed flow of charged particles from the Sun (the solar wind). The author exploits the fact that the Cassini spacecraft is the only orbiter in a unique parameter regime, far different from the more familiar near-Earth space, to provide in-situ insights into the unreachable exotic regime of supernova remnants. This thesis bridges the gap between shock physics in the Solar System and the physics of ultra-high Mach number shocks around the remnants of supernova explosions, since to date research into the latter has been restricted to theory, remote observations, and simulations.

Rather than examining only the civil or military side of the US space program, as have many books in the past, "Space, the Dormant Frontier" takes a unique look at the space program as a whole. Part of the book's treatise is that the two communities must stop ignoring each other if the US space program is to move forward beyond being a science project, jobs program, or political football. How the program got into its current, semi-desperate state is also examined, as history has given space a legacy once glorious, now an albatross. The authors include information and analysis on the military and civil space programs, challenge the perspective of the Washington Beltway analyst with vested interests in the status quo, and make policy recommendations based on realism, rather than idealism.

The thesis presents a tool to create rubble pile asteroid simulants for use in numerical impact experiments, and provides evidence that the asteroid disruption threshold and the resultant fragment size distribution are sensitive to the distribution of internal voids. This thesis represents an important step towards a deeper understanding of fragmentation processes in the asteroid belt, and provides a tool to infer the interior structure of rubble pile asteroids. Most small asteroids are 'rubble piles' - re-accumulated fragments of debris from earlier disruptive collisions. The study of fragmentation processes for rubble pile asteroids plays an essential part in understanding their collisional evolution. An important unanswered question is "what is the distribution of void space inside rubble pile asteroids?" As a result from this thesis, numerical impact experiments can now be used to link surface features to the internal structure and therefore help to answer this question. Applying this model to asteroid Steins, which was imaged from close range by the Rosetta spacecraft, a large hill-like structure is shown to be most likely primordial, while a catena of pits can be interpreted as evidence for the existence of fracturing of pre-existing internal voids.