SpaceX

SpaceX PDF Author: Erik Seedhouse
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1461455146
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 211

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Book Description
This first account of commercial spaceflight’s most successful venture describes the extraordinary feats of engineering and human achievement that have placed SpaceX at the forefront of the launch industry and made it the most likely candidate for transporting humans to Mars. Since its inception in 2002, SpaceX has sought to change the space launch paradigm by developing a family of launch vehicles that will ultimately reduce the cost and increase the reliability of space access tenfold. Coupled with the newly emerging market for governmental, private, and commercial space transport, this new model will re-ignite humanity's efforts to explore and develop space. Formed in 2002 by Elon Musk, the founder of PayPal and the Zip2 Corporation, SpaceX has already developed two state-of-the-art new launch vehicles, established an impressive launch manifest, and been awarded COTS funding by NASA to demonstrate delivery and return of cargo to the ISS. This book describes how simplicity, low-cost, and reliability can go hand in hand, as promoted in the philosophy of SpaceX. It explains how, by eliminating the traditional layers of internal management and external sub-contractors and keeping the vast majority of manufacturing in house, SpaceX reduces its costs while accelerating decision making and delivery, controls quality, and ensures constant liaison between the design and manufacturing teams.

SpaceX

SpaceX PDF Author: Erik Seedhouse
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1461455146
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 211

Get Book Here

Book Description
This first account of commercial spaceflight’s most successful venture describes the extraordinary feats of engineering and human achievement that have placed SpaceX at the forefront of the launch industry and made it the most likely candidate for transporting humans to Mars. Since its inception in 2002, SpaceX has sought to change the space launch paradigm by developing a family of launch vehicles that will ultimately reduce the cost and increase the reliability of space access tenfold. Coupled with the newly emerging market for governmental, private, and commercial space transport, this new model will re-ignite humanity's efforts to explore and develop space. Formed in 2002 by Elon Musk, the founder of PayPal and the Zip2 Corporation, SpaceX has already developed two state-of-the-art new launch vehicles, established an impressive launch manifest, and been awarded COTS funding by NASA to demonstrate delivery and return of cargo to the ISS. This book describes how simplicity, low-cost, and reliability can go hand in hand, as promoted in the philosophy of SpaceX. It explains how, by eliminating the traditional layers of internal management and external sub-contractors and keeping the vast majority of manufacturing in house, SpaceX reduces its costs while accelerating decision making and delivery, controls quality, and ensures constant liaison between the design and manufacturing teams.

Suborbital

Suborbital PDF Author: Erik Seedhouse
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3319034855
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 205

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Book Description
The nascent commercial suborbital spaceflight industry will soon open the space frontier to commercial astronauts, payload specialists, scientists and of course, tourists. This book describes the tantalizing science opportunities to be offered when suborbital trips become routine within the next 12 to 18 months. It describes the difference in training and qualification necessary to become either a spaceflight participant or a fully-fledged commercial suborbital astronaut and it describes the vehicles this new class of astronauts will use. Anticipation is on the rise for the new crop of commercial suborbital spaceships that will serve the scientific and educational market. These reusable rocket-propelled vehicles are expected to offer quick, routine and affordable access to the edge of space along with the capability to carry research and educational crew members. Yet to be demonstrated is the hoped-for flight rates of suborbital vehicles. Quick turnaround of these craft is central to realizing the profit-making potential of repeated sojourns to suborbital heights. As this book outlines, vehicle builders still face rigorous shake-out schedules, flight safety hurdles as well as extensive trial-runs of their respective craft before suborbital space jaunts become commonplace. The book examines some of these ‘cash and carry’ suborbital craft under development by such groups as Blue Origin, Masten Space Systems, Virgin Galactic and XCOR Aerospace and describes the hurdles the space industry is quickly overcoming en-route to the industry developing into a profitable economic entity. Seedhouse also explains how the commercial suborbital spaceflight industry is planning and preparing for the challenges of marketing and financing and how it is marketing the hiring of astronauts. It examines the role of commercial operators as enablers accessing the suborbital frontier and how a partnership with governments and the private sector will eventually permanently integrate the free market’s innovation of commercial suborbital space activities.

Pulling G

Pulling G PDF Author: Erik Seedhouse
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1461430291
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 230

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Book Description
Performing in a high G environment is extremely demanding on the body: pulling G forces blood to the body’s extremities, putting the pilot, astronaut or driver at risk of G-Induced Lack of Consciousness (G-LOC). In “Pulling G” Erik Seedhouse describes what it feels like to pull 7 G in a fighter plane and the G pressures on the body when driving a Formula 1 car and many other gravity-defying vehicles. The book relates, for the first time, the effects of G in both hyper-gravity and microgravity. It describes the human response to increased and decreased G and the potentially dangerous effects of high G, with particular reference to dynamic injuries sustained in high acceleration environments. “Pulling G” provides an overview of G-related research and the development of intervention methods to mitigate the effects of increased and reduced G. As well as relating the training required to overcome G-forces on the Formula 1 track, Erik Seedhouse looks at the G forces encountered in such G environments as ejection from an aircraft, launch/re-entry, and zero-G. The book also considers how artificial gravity can be used to prevent bone demineralization and to reduce the effects of de-conditioning in astronauts. Erik Seedhouse is eminently qualified to describe the effects of large accelerations on the body. In addition to being the author of several previously published Springer Praxis books, he has developed astronaut-training protocols and is the training director for Astronauts for Hire (A4H). He is also the Canadian Forces’ High Risk Acceleration Training Officer.

Interplanetary Outpost

Interplanetary Outpost PDF Author: Erik Seedhouse
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1441997482
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
"Interplanetary Outpost" follows the mission architecture template of NASA's plan for Human Outer Planet Exploration (HOPE), which envisions sending a crew to the moon Callisto to conduct exploration and sample return activities. To realize such a mission, the spacecraft will be the most complex interplanetary vehicle ever built, representing the best technical efforts of several nations. A wealth of new technologies will need to be developed, including new propulsion systems, hibernation strategies, and revolutionary radiation shielding materials. Step by step, the book will describe how the mission architecture will evolve, how crews will be selected and trained, and what the mission will entail from launch to landing. However, the focus of "Interplanetary Outpost" is on the human element. The extended duration, logistical challenges, radiation concerns, communication lag times, isolation, and deleterious effects on the human body will conspire to not only significantly impair human performance but also affect the behavior of crewmembers. This book addresses each of these issues in detail while still providing the reader with a background to the necessary elements comprising such a mission.

Survival and Sacrifice in Mars Exploration

Survival and Sacrifice in Mars Exploration PDF Author: Erik Seedhouse
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 331912448X
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 184

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Book Description
With current technology, a voyage to Mars and back will take three years. That’s a lot of time for things to go wrong. But sooner or later a commercial enterprise will commit itself to sending humans to Mars. How will the astronauts survive? Some things to consider are: ith current technology, a voyage to Mars and back will take three years. That’s a lot of time for things to go wrong. But sooner or later a commercial enterprise will commit itself to sending humans to Mars. How will the astronauts survive? Some things to consider are: • Who decides what medical resources are used for whom? Who decides what medical resources are used for whom? • What is the relative weight of mission success and the health of the crew? What is the relative weight of mission success and the health of the crew? • Do we allow crewmembers to sacrifi ce their lives for the good of the mission? Do we allow crewmembers to sacrifi ce their lives for the good of the mission? • And what if a crewmember does perish? Do we store the body for return to Earth or give the member a burial in space? Questions like these, and hundreds of others, have been explored by science fi ction, but scant attention has been paid by those designing missions. Fortunately, the experience gained in polar exploration more than 100 years ago provides crews and mission planners with a framework to deal with contingencies and it is this that forms the core of this book. Why the parallels between polar and space exploration? Because polar exploration offers a better analogy for a Mars mission today than those invoked by the space community. Although astronauts are routinely compared to Lewis and Clark, Mars-bound astronauts will be closer in their roles to polar explorers. And, as much as space has been described as a New Frontier, Mars bears greater similarity to the polar regions, which is why so much can be learned from those who ventured there. And what if a crewmember does perish? Do we store the body forreturn to Earth or give the member a burial in space? Questions like these, and hundreds of others, have been explored by science fi ction, but scant attention has been paid by those designing missions. Fortunately, the experience gained in polar exploration more than 100 years ago provides crews and mission planners with a framework to deal with contingencies and it is this that forms the core of this book. Why the parallels between polar and space exploration? Because polar exploration offers a better analogy for a Mars mission today than those invoked by the space community. Although astronauts are routinely compared to Lewis and Clark, Mars-bound astronauts will be closer in their roles to polar explorers. And, as much as space has been described as a New Frontier, Mars bears greater similarity to the polar regions, which is why so much can be learned from those who ventured there.

Astronauts For Hire

Astronauts For Hire PDF Author: Erik Seedhouse
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1461405203
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description
'Astronauts For Hire' is a comprehensive and authoritative study of the increasing need for commercial astronauts. Erik Seedhouse provides unique insights into the burgeoning new field of commercial space operation and the individuals who will run these missions. Section I begins by describing how Astronauts for Hire (A4H) was created in 2010 by Brian Shiro, a highly qualified NASA astronaut candidate, and a group of other astronaut candidates. Erik introduces A4H's vision for opening the space frontier to commercial astronauts and describes the tantalizing science opportunities offered when suborbital and orbital trips become routine. Section II describes the vehicles astronauts will use. Anticipation is on the rise for the new crop of commercial suborbital and orbital spaceships that will serve the scientific and educational market. These reusable rocket-propelled vehicles are expected to offer quick, routine, and affordable access to the edge of space, along with the capability to carry research and educational crew members. The quick turnaround of these vehicles is central to realizing the profit-making potential of repeated sojourns by astronauts to suborbital and orbital heights. Section III describes the various types of missions this new corps of astronauts will fly and who will hire them. For example, suborbital flights may be used to do high altitude astronomy, life science experiments, and microgravity physics. This section continues with an examination of the types of missions that will accelerate human expansion outward, to Exploration Class missions through lunar bases, the establishment of interplanetary spaceports, and outposts on the surface of Mars. Along the way it describes the tasks commercial astronauts will perform, ranging from mining asteroids to harvesting helium.

Tourists in Space

Tourists in Space PDF Author: Erik Seedhouse
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319050389
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 300

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Book Description
Forget Hawaii or the Mediterranean. Soon – very soon – you’ll be able to add a much more exotic stamp to your passport: space. How will you get there, what will the trip be like and how much training will you need? All you need to know is right here in this guide. Tourists in Space: A Practical Guide supplies all the advice and information you need to make your spaceflight the most rewarding experience of your life. This definitive, real-world guide is packed with helpful facts and suggestions on everything from training, equipment, safety and in-flight procedures to techniques for avoiding space motion sickness and bone demineralization. You’ll also find: • Advice on choosing your training agency • Techniques for minimizing the risk of space motion sickness • Information you need to prepare for your medical examination, training and flight • Tips on activities near your training location and much more.

FSpace Roleplaying Reference Manual v2.1

FSpace Roleplaying Reference Manual v2.1 PDF Author: Gary Ammundsen, Robert Bettelheim, Richard Fields, David Hughes, Stephen Pritchard, Martin Rait
Publisher: FSpace Publications
ISBN: 0958206295
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 133

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Book Description
FSpaceRPG is a science fiction roleplaying game in the classic mould. In the late 22nd century mankind expands into the the stars only to find them in more turmoil than it's own internal nationalism. Pitted against the onslaught of the expansion of the Stotatl Empire, humanity must defend itself while forging alliances with others who face absorption. Whether you're a Terran soldier or an Aronhi Warrior from the partially conquered Aronhi Empire, one goal stands supreme above all, survival. The wits and courage to stand and fight against superior odds and create victories from difficult situations. But not all the glory lies in the hands of warriors. Exploration of the vast wilderness that is space, charting dangers, finding resources and contacting potential allies is a cornerstone of survival. The conflict, intrigue, action and adventure of these times provide an exciting roleplaying environment for players, whether they like playing space marines, traders, spies, investigators or just general adventure seekers. The span of events in reality are all possible, giving a wide scope of play. If you don't like flying around the cosmos as a British Royal Space Marine then you could always visit a primitive society and face the challenge of worlds filled with mystery, fantasy and danger. What you get The FSpaceRPG Reference Manual is a 133 page rulebook with a set of condensed rules designing for character generation and general play. Ideal for players.

Virgin Galactic

Virgin Galactic PDF Author: Erik Seedhouse
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319092626
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 219

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Book Description
Thirty years ago when Sir Richard Branson called up Boeing and asked if they had a spare 747, few would have predicted the brash entrepreneur would so radically transform the placid business of air travel. But today, Branson flies airlines on six continents, employs hundreds of jets and, in 2014, was predicting that his spaceship company – Virgin Galactic – would soon open the space frontier to commercial astronauts, payload specialists, scientists and space tourists. With more than 600 seats sold at $250,000 each, what started off as a dream to send people just for the excitement to look back and marvel at Earth, was on the cusp of finally being turned into a business. Then, on October 21, 2014, tragedy struck. SpaceShipTwo was on its most ambitious test flight to date. Seconds after firing its engine, Virgin Galactic’s spaceship was breaking through the sound barrier. In just the three seconds that it took for the vehicle to climb from Mach 0.94 to Mach 1.02, co-pilot Mike Alsbury made what many close to the event believe was a fatal mistake that led to his death and the disintegration of SpaceShipTwo. Miraculously, the pilot, Peter Siebold, survived the 16-km fall back to Earth. Soon after the event Branson vowed to continue his space tourism venture in spite of this. Already a second SpaceShipTwo is being built, and ticket-holders eagerly await the day when Virgin Galactic offers quick, routine and affordable access to the edge of space. This book explains the hurdles Virgin Galactic had and still has to overcome en route to developing suborbital space travel as a profitable economic entity, and describes the missions that will be flown on board SpaceShipTwo Mk II, including high-altitude science studies, astronomy, life sciences, and microgravity physics.

Bigelow Aerospace

Bigelow Aerospace PDF Author: Erik Seedhouse
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319051970
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 198

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Book Description
Here for the first time you can read: how a space technology start-up is pioneering work on expandable space station modules how Robert Bigelow licensed the TransHab idea from NASA, and how his company developed the technology for more than a decade how, very soon, a Bigelow expandable module will be docked with the International Space Station. At the core of Bigelow's plan is the inflatable module technology. Tougher and more durable than their rigid counterparts, these inflatable modules are perfectly suited for use in the space, where Bigelow plans to link them together to form commercial space stations. This book describes how this new breed of space stations will be built and how the link between Bigelow Aerospace, NASA and private companies can lead to a new economy—a space economy. Finally, the book touches on Bigelow's aspirations beyond low Earth orbit, plans that include the landing of a base on the lunar surface and the prospect of missions to Mars.