Kategoria BISAC: Technology & Engineering >> Aeronautics & Astronautics

In this second edition of Future Spacecraft Propulsion Systems, the authors demonstrate the need to break free from the old established concepts of expendable rockets, using chemical propulsion, and to develop new breeds of launch vehicle capable of both launching payloads into orbit at a dramatically reduced cost and for sustained operations in low-Earth orbit. The next steps to establishing a permanent 'presence' in the Solar System beyond Earth are the commercialisation of sustained operations on the Moon and the development of advanced nuclear or high-energy space propulsion systems...

A systematic computer-aided approach provides a versatile setting for the control engineer to overcome the complications of controller design for highly nonlinear systems. Computer-aided Nonlinear Control System Design provides such an approach based on the use of describing functions. The text deals with a large class of nonlinear systems without restrictions on the system order, the number of inputs and/or outputs or the number, type or arrangement of nonlinear terms. The strongly software-oriented methods detailed facilitate fulfillment of tight performance requirements and help the...

The high accuracy of modern astronomical spatial-temporal reference systems has made them considerably complex. This book offers a comprehensive overview of such systems. It begins with a discussion of 'The Problem of Time', including recent developments in the art of clock making (e.g., optical clocks) and various time scales. The authors address the definitions and realization of spatial coordinates by reference to remote celestial objects such as quasars. After an extensive treatment of classical equinox-based coordinates, new paradigms for setting up a celestial reference system are...

Widely used for power generation, gas turbine engines are susceptible to faults due to the harsh working environment. Most engine problems are preceded by a sharp change in measurement deviations compared to a baseline engine, but the trend data of these deviations over time are contaminated with noise and non-Gaussian outliers. Gas Turbine Diagnostics: Signal Processing and Fault Isolation presents signal processing algorithms to improve fault diagnosis in gas turbine engines, particularly jet engines. The algorithms focus on removing noise and outliers while keeping the...

This volume explains the beginnings and expansion of China's space program, analyzing how China is now able to hold such ambitions and how the interaction between technology, politics and economics has influenced the Chinese space program.

It opens by tracing out the earlier development of the space program and identifying the successes and problems that plagued this initial effort, later focusing upon its development over the past decade and into the future. As China is now able to reach into outer space with its machines and, since 2003, with its humans, the authors examine how...

This book examines transatlantic politics through an analysis of 60 years of US-European strategic interaction in space.

The significance of space politics for the study of transatlantic relations receives surprisingly little scholarly attention. As a theatre of interaction, transatlantic space politics reflects the vicissitudes of European and US power in the international system. An understanding of space politics is therefore vital in understanding the status and prospect of the transatlantic order.

Using established IR theories, the author investigates transatlantic space...

In a critical Cold War moment, Dwight D. Eisenhower's presidency suddenly changed when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the world's first satellite. What Ike called "a small ball" became a source of Russian pride and propaganda, and it wounded him politically, as critics charged that he responded sluggishly to the challenge of space exploration. Yet Eisenhower refused to panic after Sputnik and he did more than just stay calm. He helped to guide the United States into the Space Age, even though Americans have given greater credit to John F. Kennedy for that achievement.

In...

A team of launched and coordinated Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), requires advanced technologies in sensing, communication, computing, and control to improve their intelligence and robustness towards autonomous operations. To enhance reliability, robustness, and mission capability of a team of UAVs, a system-oriented and holistic approach is desirable in which all components and subsystems are considered in terms of their roles and impact on the entire system.

This volume aims to summarize the recent progress, identify challenges and opportunities, and develop new methodologies and...

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

This fourth volume in the series covers the period 2004 to the present day and features:

• coverage of the Rosetta and Curiosity missions up to the end of 2013
• coverage of Mars missions since 2005, including the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Phoenix and Fobos-Grunt, plus a...