On February 1st 2003, one of the worst and most public disasters ever witnessed in the human space programme unfolded with horrifying suddenness in the skies above north central Texas.
Although most people have some knowledge of the essential structure of the Solar System, few are familiar with the large and varied array of objects that travel with and between the planets in their journeys around the Sun.
Between 1994 and 1999, I had the pleasure of lecturing Special and General Relativity in the Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales of the Universidad de Buenos Aires.
In our quest to elucidate the origin of the universe and the formation of galaxies, particularly that of the Milky Way in which we live, astounding progress has been made in recent years through observational and theoretical studies.
In Spies in the Sky Patrick Norris responds to the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the dawn of the Space Age - the launch of Sputnik 1 - with a review of the most important historical applications of space science for the benefit of the human race during that half century, focusing particularly on the prevention of nuclear war.
This book traces the history of celestial cartography and relates this history to the changing ideas of man's place in the universe and to advances in map-making.
XI ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xiii INTRODUCTION XV CHAPTER 1: THE HISTORICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVES 1 The Magical Vision of the Nonhuman 1 Ancient Philosophy 2 Medieval Philosophy 6 The Renaissance 8 The Birth of Modern Science 10 First Attempts at Contact 16 Cosmism 17 From Enthusiasm to Disenchantment 18 CHAPTER 2: THE RELIGIOUS PERSPECTIVE 23 Is Extraterrestrial Life a Threat to Religion?
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 From the Ground Up 3 Rockets and Satellites 4 To the Moon 15 Humans versus Robots 18 CHAPTER 2: A SPACE ROBOT IS BORN 23 Scientific Conception 25 Proving Technology 33 The Political Push 36 Paper Spacecraft 38 It'sJust a Phase I'm Going Through 48 CHAPTER 3: ANATOMY OF A SPACE PROBE 53 Bits and Pieces 55 Power 57 Vll Contents Communication 65 Structures 70 Thermal Control 73 Attitude Control 77 Propulsion 86 Data Handling 89 Mechanisms 93 The Kidnap ofLuna 1 95 CHAPTER 4: BUILDING AND TESTING 97 The Spacecraft Garage 97 Keep it Clean 100 Planetary Protection 102 Shake, Rattle 'n' Roll 108 Shaken, not stirred 110 Canned space 112 Antenna testing 112 Special cases 113 Breaking the software 114 CHAPTER 5: INSTRUMENTS OFS CIENCE 115 The More we Learn, the More we Don't Know 116 Let's get Physical 118 It's All in the Data 121 Many Eyes 122 123 Visible light instruments There is more than meets the eye 126 Messenger's Instruments 129 Roving Around 132 Diving through an Atmosphere 140 142 Primeval soup Going down 142 CHAPTER 6: LAUNCH 149 On the Road 149 Spaceports 150 Preparing for Launch 153 Up and Away 156 Rockets 159 162 Orbits Vlll Contents CHAPTER 7: DISTANT DESTINATIONS 167 To the Moon 170 The first visits 170 Preparing for Apollo 172 Robot rovers 175 Modern missions 176 A new Moon 177 Unromantic Venus 179 Greenhouse nightmare 179 Into the unknown 180 Magellan 186
The aim of State of the Universe 2007 (and subsequent volumes issued annually) is to provide an annual astronomy review suitable for the popular science level reader to be published every year in September in a format that will be suitable for an appeal to the Christmas market.
If you have ever gazed through the eyepiece of a telescope at the magnificent rings and banded globe of Saturn, or found yourself breathless at the sight of long shadows jutting across crater floors on the terminator of the Moon, then you will understand the power of those direct visual experiences.
I was delighted to be invited by my colleagues Alessandra Celletti and Ettore Perozzi to provide a foreword to their book, Celestial Mechanics: The Waltz of the Planets.
The Wheels of Apollo and the Quest for Mars fills a need for a complete history of the Lunar Roving Vehicle used on Apollo 15, 16 and 17, drawing on many photographs never before published.
For the majority of amateur astronomers, who live at the latitudes of North America, the British Isles and Australia, the aurora is a relatively infrequent visitor to the night sky.
CHAPTER 1: DISCOVERING DISTANT WORLDS 3 CHAPTER 2: MERCURY: THE IRON PLANET 21 CHAPTER 3: VENUS: THE RUNAWAY GREENHOUSE 45 CHAPTER 4: THE MOON: QUEEN OF THE NIGHT 69 5: MARS: THE RED PLANET CHAPTER 101 CHAPTER 6: ASTEROIDS: VERMIN OF THE SKIES 129 CHAPTER 7: JUPITER: KING OF THE PLANETS 147 CHAPTER 8: SATURN: LIGHTWEIGHT LORD OF THE RINGS 185 CHAPTER 9: URANUS: THE TOPPLED GIANT 217 CHAPTER 10: NEPTUNE: THE LAST GIANT 237 CHAPTER 11: PLUTO: KING OF THE KUIPER BELT 257 CHAPTER 12: COMETS: COSMIC ICEBERGS 269 APPENDICES 1: Lunar and Planetary Missions 285 2: Planetary Data 298 3: Satellite Data 299 4: Planetary Rings 305 5: The Largest Known Kuiper Belt Objects 307 6: Lunar and Planetary Firsts 308 7: Selected Reading List 310 8: Selected Websites 314 INDEX 317 VII Until about 500 years ago, the Earth was believed to lie at Pluto and its recently discovered, larger cousin in the far the center of the Universe, with the Sun and five planets reaches of the Sun's realm.
Hidden from human view, accessible only to sensitive receivers attached to huge radio telescopes, giant versions of backyard satellite dishes, the invisible universe beyond our senses continues to fascinate and intrigue our imaginations.
While most amateur astronomers know about the red shift, have a general idea of the way that the emission and absorption lines in stellar spectra provide an insight into the atomic processes of the star, it is unusual to find someone who has any kind of detailed knowledge.
In 'Paving the Way for Apollo 11' David Harland explains the lure of the Moon to classical philosophers, astronomers, and geologists, and how NASA set out to investigate the Moon in preparation for a manned lunar landing mission.
Many people know something about communication - it is after all an innate human ability - but a full comprehension of how to do science communication effectively is not acquired easily.
