Bücher der Reihe Space Exploration

Learn about commercial spaceflight¿s most successful startup in this fully updated book, which follows the extraordinary feats of engineering and human achievement that have placed SpaceX at the forefront of the launch industry and positioned it as the most likely candidate for transporting humans to Mars.This second edition emphasizes SpaceX's much-hyped manned mission to the Red Planet. With a plethora of new material gathered from 2013 to the present, the text offers the most up-to-date portrait of the maverick band of scientists and engineers producing some of the most spectacular aviation triumphs of the 21st century. Topics covered in this book include: all CRS flights, the challenges of developing retro-propulsion, and the pathway towards realizing the Falcon Heavy and BFR. In addition, the chapters describe SpaceX¿s emphasis on simplicity, low-cost, and reliability, and the methods the company employs to reduce its costs while speeding up decision-making and delivery. Detailing the Falcon 1, Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch vehicles, the book shows how SpaceX is able to offer a full spectrum of light, medium, and heavy lift launch capabilities to its customers and how it is able to deliver spacecraft into any inclination and altitude, from low Earth orbit to geosynchronous orbit to planetary missions. This book is the perfect go-to guide on SpaceX for anybody working or interested in the commercial space arena.

In September 1969, several months after the Apollo 11 lunar landing, President Richard M. Nixon established the Space Task Force to chart NASA¿s path for the decades to come. This imaginative vision was shattered less than six months later when, on January 13, 1970, NASA Administrator Dr. Thomas Paine announced that, owing to funding cuts, only the reusable Space Shuttle could be afforded -- there would be no space station, no return to the Moon, and no missions to Mars.This is a story never before told about the missions and technologies that NASA had begun to plan but never fully realized. The book is a companion to the author¿s previous two works on the Space Shuttle. Whereas the first two books showed how the Space Shuttle flew in space and what the program accomplished, this book explains what more the Space Shuttle could have achieved and how the space transportation system could have further matured if circumstances had been otherwise. A final chapter also discusses howsome of these plans might be resurrected in future programs.

Following NASA's very recent discovery of vast amounts of water just beneath the Martian surface, Jeffrey Kargel presents a brand new treatment of Martian geologic and climatic history.

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 Asiäs 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.