Robotic Exploration of the Solar System: Part 3: Wows and Woes, 1997-2003

ISBN-13: 9780387096278 / Angielski / Miękka / 2012 / 529 str.

Paolo Ulivi

Opis

Paolo Ulivi and David Harland provide in Robotic Exploration of the Solar System a detailed history of unmanned missions of exploration of our Solar System As in their previous book Lunar Exploration, the subject will be treated wherever possible from an engineering and scientific standpoint. Technical descriptions of the spacecraft, of their mission designs and of instrumentations will be provided. Scientific results will be discussed in considerable depth, together with details of mission management. The books will cover missions from the 1950s until the present day, and some of the latest missions and their results will appear in a popular science book for the first time. The authors will also cover many unflown projects, providing an indication of the ideas that proved to be unfulfilled at the time but which may still be proven and useful in the future. Just like Lunar Exploration, these books will use sources only recently made available on the Soviet space program, in addition to some obscure and rarely used references on the European space program. The project will deliver three volumes totaling over 1000 pages that will provide comprehensive coverage of the topic with thousands of references to the professional literature that should make it the 'first port of call' for people seeking information on the topic.

Recenzje

From the reviews:

Selected by Choice magazine as an "Outstanding Academic Title" for 2013

"Ulivi and Harland remedy this by providing rich, detailed overviews of Cassini, the Spirit and Opportunity rovers, and a number of less-well-known missions, such as Stardust. ... The book features many illustrations, including images from the missions themselves, diagrams of the trajectories followed, and schematics of the spacecraft. ... The book is well-researched and documented and is essential reading for anyone with an interest in the exploration of Earth's solar system. ... Summing Up: Essential. All space history collections." (C. Palma, Choice, Vol. 50 (7), March, 2013)

Spis treści

(In Part 1) Introduction.- Chapter 1: The beginning.- Chapter 2: Of landers and orbiters.- Chapter 3: The grandest tour.- (In Part 2) Chapter 4: The decade of Halley.- Chapter 5: The era of flagships.- Chapter 6: Faster, cheaper, better.- (Now in Part 3) Foreword.- Author's Preface.- Acknowledgments.- Chapter 7: The last flagship.- Chapter 8: Faster, cheaper, better continues.- Chapter 9: Mars invaded.- Glossary.- Appendices.- Chapter references.- Further reading.- Previous volumes in this series.- Index.

O autorze

Paolo Ulivi was born in Florence, Italy and graduated from the Politecnico di Milano University with a thesis on robotics for Mars sample return missions. He works as a consultant in aerospace structures in Toulouse, France. In his free time, he researches the history of astronautics, astronomy, aeronautics and the Cold War. He is also an amateur astronomer and specializes in Solar System observations.

David Harland studied astronomy to degree level, and pursued a career lecturing in computer science, and academic and industrial research. In 1995, David "retired" to resume his interest in spaec and started to write. He has over two dozen books published to date, a majority of them with Springer/Praxis and several others under contract. These days he considers himself to be an amateur hermit and a professional space historian.

Blurb

In Robotic Exploration of the Solar System, Paolo Ulivi and David Harland provide a comprehensive account of the design and managment of deep-space missions, the spacecraft involved - some flown, others not - their instruments, and their scientific results.

This third volume in the series covers launches in the period 1997 to 2003 and features:

- a chapter entirely devoted to the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn;

- coverage of planetary missions of the period, including the Deep Space 1 mission and the Stardust and Hayabusa sample returns from comets and asteroids;

- extensive coverage of Mars exploration, the failed 1999 missions, Mars Odyssey, Mars Express, and the twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity.

The story will continue in Part 4.