Discovering the Cosmos with Small Spacecraft

Discovering the Cosmos with Small Spacecraft PDF Author: Brian Harvey
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319681400
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description
Explorer was the original American space program and Explorer 1 its first satellite, launched in 1958. Sixty years later, it is the longest continuously running space program in the world, demonstrating to the world how we can explore the cosmos with small spacecraft. Almost a hundred Explorers have already been launched. Explorers have made some of the fundamental discoveries of the Space Age. Explorer 1 discovered Earth’s radiation belts. Later Explorers surveyed the Sun, the X-ray and ultraviolet universes, black holes, magnetars and gamma ray bursts. An Explorer found the remnant of the Big Bang. One Explorer chased and was the first to intercept a comet. The program went through a period of few launches during the crisis of funding for space science in the 1980s. However, with the era of ‘faster, cheaper, better,’ the program was reinvented, and new exiting missions began to take shape, like Swift and the asteroid hunter WISE. Discovering the Cosmos with Small Spacecraft gives an account of each mission and its discoveries. It breaks down the program into its main periods of activity and examines the politics and debate on the role of small spacecraft in space science. It introduces the launchers (Juno, Thor, etc.), the launch centers, the ground centers and key personalities like James Van Allen who helped develop and run the spacecraft’s exciting programs.

Discovering the Cosmos with Small Spacecraft

Discovering the Cosmos with Small Spacecraft PDF Author: Brian Harvey
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319681400
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 284

Get Book

Book Description
Explorer was the original American space program and Explorer 1 its first satellite, launched in 1958. Sixty years later, it is the longest continuously running space program in the world, demonstrating to the world how we can explore the cosmos with small spacecraft. Almost a hundred Explorers have already been launched. Explorers have made some of the fundamental discoveries of the Space Age. Explorer 1 discovered Earth’s radiation belts. Later Explorers surveyed the Sun, the X-ray and ultraviolet universes, black holes, magnetars and gamma ray bursts. An Explorer found the remnant of the Big Bang. One Explorer chased and was the first to intercept a comet. The program went through a period of few launches during the crisis of funding for space science in the 1980s. However, with the era of ‘faster, cheaper, better,’ the program was reinvented, and new exiting missions began to take shape, like Swift and the asteroid hunter WISE. Discovering the Cosmos with Small Spacecraft gives an account of each mission and its discoveries. It breaks down the program into its main periods of activity and examines the politics and debate on the role of small spacecraft in space science. It introduces the launchers (Juno, Thor, etc.), the launch centers, the ground centers and key personalities like James Van Allen who helped develop and run the spacecraft’s exciting programs.

The Cosmos on a Shoestring

The Cosmos on a Shoestring PDF Author: Liam Sarsfield
Publisher: RAND Corporation
ISBN:
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
Small spacecraft have become popular for a number of reasons, most prominently the needs to reduce overall cost, be built more quickly, and spread mission risks. NASA has been challenged with crafting a program that continues to produce meaningful science within the constraints of the available budget. Still, pound for pound, small spacecraft are not precisely inexpensive, given the effects of complexity, launch costs, and a greater degree of risk. Historically, science spacecraft have demonstrated increasing reliability, but this trend might not continue, given the shift to managed risk. There is generally less money available to smaller programs to test spacecraft functions and operational procedures prior to launch. Small spacecraft are also generally less robust. Efforts to reduce failure potentials through the application of more reliable components, better testing, and advanced design techniques should receive greater attention. Despite the risks, however, small spacecraft fulfill important roles in earth science, astrophysics, space physics, and planetary science. NASA's current generation of small spacecraft is capable of impressive levels of performance.

Achieving Science with CubeSats

Achieving Science with CubeSats PDF Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 030944263X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 131

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Book Description
Space-based observations have transformed our understanding of Earth, its environment, the solar system and the universe at large. During past decades, driven by increasingly advanced science questions, space observatories have become more sophisticated and more complex, with costs often growing to billions of dollars. Although these kinds of ever-more-sophisticated missions will continue into the future, small satellites, ranging in mass between 500 kg to 0.1 kg, are gaining momentum as an additional means to address targeted science questions in a rapid, and possibly more affordable, manner. Within the category of small satellites, CubeSats have emerged as a space-platform defined in terms of (10 cm x 10 cm x 10 cm)- sized cubic units of approximately 1.3 kg each called "U's." Historically, CubeSats were developed as training projects to expose students to the challenges of real-world engineering practices and system design. Yet, their use has rapidly spread within academia, industry, and government agencies both nationally and internationally. In particular, CubeSats have caught the attention of parts of the U.S. space science community, which sees this platform, despite its inherent constraints, as a way to affordably access space and perform unique measurements of scientific value. The first science results from such CubeSats have only recently become available; however, questions remain regarding the scientific potential and technological promise of CubeSats in the future. Achieving Science with CubeSats reviews the current state of the scientific potential and technological promise of CubeSats. This report focuses on the platform's promise to obtain high- priority science data, as defined in recent decadal surveys in astronomy and astrophysics, Earth science and applications from space, planetary science, and solar and space physics (heliophysics); the science priorities identified in the 2014 NASA Science Plan; and the potential for CubeSats to advance biology and microgravity research. It provides a list of sample science goals for CubeSats, many of which address targeted science, often in coordination with other spacecraft, or use "sacrificial," or high-risk, orbits that lead to the demise of the satellite after critical data have been collected. Other goals relate to the use of CubeSats as constellations or swarms deploying tens to hundreds of CubeSats that function as one distributed array of measurements.

Japan In Space

Japan In Space PDF Author: Brian Harvey
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3031455738
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 441

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Book Description
Guided by genius engineer Hideo Itokawa, Japan’s space program began with small scientific satellites more than 50 years ago. Since then, its space probes have travelled to the Moon, Venus, the asteroids and even a comet. The country launched weather satellites to warn of typhoons, communications satellites to connect the Japanese archipelago and remote sensing technology to observe the Earth and warn of climate change. Engineering technology satellites became the basis of Japan’s electronic industry as Japanese astronauts flew into space, working on their Kibo module on the International Space Station. Now, Japan is one of Asia’s leading space powers, alongside China and India, vying for influence in the region. Its solid and liquid-fueled rockets are estimated to be among the most advanced and reliable in the world, its technology among the best. This book examines the history of Japan’s space program, the country’s current state of development and its future. It describes the extensive infrastructure that has gone into the forging of Japan’s picturesque oceanside launch sites, training centers, testing facilities and tracking stations. This book also outlines the politics of space in Japan, financial difficulties, its space industry, the symbiotic relationship with the United States and the recent sharp change-of-course to invest in military satellites. From the role of influential personalities, such as Hideo Shima and Shinichi Nakasuka, to political leaders, such as Yasuhiro Nakasone and Takeo Kawamura, you will read about how Japan has paved its own star-lit path to space. The future may expect to send Japanese probes to Mercury and the moons of Mars, all while the first Japanese astronauts set foot on our own Moon and drive innovative rovers across its surface.

Imaging Our Solar System: The Evolution of Space Mission Cameras and Instruments

Imaging Our Solar System: The Evolution of Space Mission Cameras and Instruments PDF Author: Bernard Henin
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030904997
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 294

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Book Description
As we speak, stunning new snapshots of our Solar System are being transmitted to Earth by a fleet of space probes, landers, and rovers. Yet nowadays, it is all too easy to take such images for granted amidst the deluge of competing visuals we scroll through every day. To truly understand the value of these incredible space photos, we first need to understand the tools that made them possible. This is the story of imaging instruments in space, detailing all the technological missteps and marvels that have allowed us to view planetary bodies like never before. From the rudimentary cameras launched in the 1950’s to the cutting-edge imaging instruments onboard the Mars Perseverance rover, this book covers more than 100 imaging systems sent aboard various spacecraft to explore near and distant planetary bodies. Featured within are some of the most striking images ever received by these pioneering instruments, including Voyager’s Pale Blue Dot, Apollo’s Blue Marble, Venera’s images from the surface of Venus, Huygens’ images of Titan, New Horizon’s images of Pluto and Arrokoth, and much more. Along the way, you will learn about advancements in data transmission, digitization, citizen science, and other fields that revolutionized space imaging, helping us peer farther and more clearly across the Solar System.

The Fabric of the Cosmos

The Fabric of the Cosmos PDF Author: Brian Greene
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307428532
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 594

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Book Description
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From one of the world’s leading physicists and author of the Pulitzer Prize finalist The Elegant Universe, comes “an astonishing ride” through the universe (The New York Times) that makes us look at reality in a completely different way. Space and time form the very fabric of the cosmos. Yet they remain among the most mysterious of concepts. Is space an entity? Why does time have a direction? Could the universe exist without space and time? Can we travel to the past? Greene has set himself a daunting task: to explain non-intuitive, mathematical concepts like String Theory, the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, and Inflationary Cosmology with analogies drawn from common experience. From Newton’s unchanging realm in which space and time are absolute, to Einstein’s fluid conception of spacetime, to quantum mechanics’ entangled arena where vastly distant objects can instantaneously coordinate their behavior, Greene takes us all, regardless of our scientific backgrounds, on an irresistible and revelatory journey to the new layers of reality that modern physics has discovered lying just beneath the surface of our everyday world.

Your Ticket to the Universe

Your Ticket to the Universe PDF Author: Kimberly K. Arcand
Publisher:
ISBN: 1588343758
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 239

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Book Description
"Easy-to-read guide to the universe. Includes information on the planets, and other astrological entities"--

Your Ticket to the Universe

Your Ticket to the Universe PDF Author: Kimberly K. Arcand
Publisher: Smithsonian Institution
ISBN: 1588343766
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 239

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Book Description
An entertaining and accessible trip to the most interesting stops in the cosmos. Accompanied by dramatic visuals, Your Ticket to the Universe is a hybrid coffee-table book and field guide. Beginning with our home planet, Your Ticket to the Universe embarks on an entertaining and accessible trip to the most interesting stops known in the cosmos. Learn about objects nearby within our Solar System (our backyard in space, so to speak) as well as wonders that are found throughout the Milky Way galaxy and beyond (the most distant and exotic lands to explore). Accompanied by brilliant photographs that bring the reading experience to vivid, immediate life, Your Ticket to the Universe is designed to make space exploration accessible to everyone. Your Ticket to the Universe outlines the essentials anyone needs to know, while piquing the reader's curiosity to learn more.

Space Atlas

Space Atlas PDF Author: Jiri Dusek
Publisher: Union Square Kids
ISBN: 9781454912378
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Young astronauts and astronomers can discover the wonders of outer space in this gorgeous atlas! Comes complete with six giant fold-outs, amazing color illustrations, beautifully detailed charts, and fun facts about the solar system, space exploration, and the creation of the universe. Full color.

Exploring the X-Ray Universe

Exploring the X-Ray Universe PDF Author: Philip A. Charles
Publisher: CUP Archive
ISBN: 9780521437127
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 420

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Book Description
The one-stop general book on the whole of X-ray astronomy.