Space Technology Library – serie

Fundamentals of Space Biology is the third textbook addressing Space Life Sciences in this Space Technology Library series. The first of these books focused on the psychological and psychiatric issues that affect people who live and work in space (Volume 16, Space Psychology and Psychiatry). The second book described the physiological and medical issues of living in a space environment (Volume 17, Fundamentals of Space Medicine). The objective of this third book was to review the effects of spaceflight on less complex biological systems, from single cells to animals and plants. Indeed, to better understand the changes at the function level, it is necessary to comprehend the changes at cellular and tissue levels. Studies of cell cultures, for example, allow the investigation of the indirect effects of gravity; i.e., those which occur not because of changes in the stimulation of dedicated gravity-sensing organs, but because of the new physical properties resulting from the reduction in gravitational force within the cell.

William H. Paloski, Ph. D. Human Adaptation and Countermeasures Office NASA Johnson Space Center Artificial gravity is an old concept, having gotten its start in the late in the 19th century when Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, considered by many to be the father of the Russian space program, realized that the human body might not respond well to the free fall of orbital space flight. To solve this problem, he proposed that space stations be rotated to create centripetal accelerations that might provide inertial loading similar to terrestrial gravitational loading. Einstein later showed in his equivalence principle that acceleration is indeed indistinguishable from gravity. Subsequently, other individuals of note, including scientists like Werner von Braun as well as artists like Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick, devised elaborate solutions for spinning vehicles to provide “artificial gravity” that would offset the untoward physiological consequences of spaceflight. By 1959, concerns about the then-unknown human responses to spaceflight drove NASA to consider the necessity of incorporating artificial gravity in its earliest human space vehicles. Of course, owing in part to the relatively short durations of the planned missions, artificial gravity was not used in the early NASA programs.

The goal of this book is to allow you to begin with a "blank sheet of paper" and design a space mission to meet a set of broad, often poorly defined, objectives. You should be able to define the mission in sufficient detail to identify principal drivers and make a preliminary assessment of overall performance, size, cost, and risk. The emphasis of the book is on low-Earth orbit, unmanned spacecraft. However, we hope that the principles are broad enough to be applicable to other missions as well. We intend the book to be a practical guide, rather than a theoretical treatise. As much as possible, we have provided rules of thumb, empirical formulas, and design algorithms based on past experience. We assume that the reader has a general knowledge of physics, math, and basic engineering, but is not necessarily familiar with any aspect of space technology. This book was written by a group of senior engineers with over 800 years of collective space experience. It reflects the insight gained from this practical experience, and suggests how things might be done better in the future. From time to time the views of authors and editors conflict, as must necessarily occur given the broad diversity of experience. We believe it is important to reflect this diversity rather than suppress the opinions of individual authors.

The second edition of "Space Mission Analysis and Design" continues the tradition of emphasizing the process of mission design established by the first edition. Process tables are now included for all elements of the design activity. The quick-reference tables of important mission design parameters have been expanded to six pages on the inside rear cover. Numerous data tables have been expanded and updated, including space computers and a new presentation of satellite lifetimes. New sections have been added on defining the overall mission concept, subject trades, guidance and navigation, and applying the mission analysis and design process to reduce cost and risk in later programme stages. The material on mission analysis, space payloads, spacecraft subsystems, and launch systems has been substantially revised. This book remains an invaluable tool for the concept exploration process and is required reading for anyone involved in this process for unmanned space missions. This book is intended for professionals and students in astronautics and space science, aerospace engineers and managers, and scientists involved with space experiments.It is also suitable as a textbook in space mission analysis and design, or as supplementary reading for courses in virtually any area of space technology.

Spacecraft Structures and Mechanisms describes the integral process of developing cost-effective, reliable structures and mechanical products for space programs. Processes are defined, methods are described and examples are given. It has been written by 24 engineers in the space industry, who cover the themes of (1) ensuring a successful mission, and (2) reducing total cost through good designs and intelligent risk management. Topics include: Introduction and requirements (development process, requirements documentation, requirements definition, space mission environments); Analysis (statics, dynamics and load analysis, fatigue and fracture mechanics, mechanics of materials, strength analysis, heat transfer and thermal effects); Verification and quality assurance (verification planning, structural, mechanical and environmental testing, quality assurance and configuration control, compliance documentation, structural reliability analysis, verification criteria - factors of safety, margins of safety, fracture control, test options); Design (spacecraft configuration development, finite element analysis, mechanism development, designing for producibility, structural design, materials, designing to control loads, load cycles, sensitivity analysis); Final verification (model correlation, risk management, launch readiness reviews). For system engineers, mechanical designers, stress analysts, dynamics and load analysts, technical leads, program managers.

Spaceflight Life Support and Biospherics is the introduction to space life support systems and artificial ecosystems that has so far been lacking. It is a source of information for everyone involved in the life support system design and development process - engineers, scientists, and students - as well as all those who are simply interested in this existing discipline. The structure of this book is such that it gives step-by-step answers to the basic questions concerning life support systems on any scale - from small microbial systems to the Earth's biosphere: Why life support system development and biosphere research? How does our natural life support system, the biosphere, work? What are the environmental conditions for life support systems in space? What are the fundamental terms and requirements of life support? Which physicochemical life support subsystems currently exist? Which are the potential bioregenerative life support technologies of the future? What are life support systems of future planetary habitats going to look like? What are the experiences of the largest artificial ecosystem - Biosphere 2? What are the potential terrestrial benefits of life support development? £/LIST£

Reducing Space Mission Cost is the first complete treatment of the technology, process, and problems in the most critical areas of modern spaceflight. The demand to reduce cost is unrelenting. This pioneering book addresses all aspects of this problem, including: * Technology and processes for reducing cost * Cost reduction in mission engineering, spacecraft design, manufacture, launch, and operations * Implementation methods and problems * The price of reducing cost *10 detailed case studies of what works in practice in: * Science missions * Interplanetary probes * Communications spacecraft * Test and Applications missions Beginning on the inside front cover, this book provides real cost data on a variety of missions, systems, and subsystems. According to the authors: 'Reducing mission cost is hard enough if you know what the real costs are, and virtually impossible if you don't.' This book challenges traditional methods, yet recognizes that all space programs are run to minimize cost within the rules under which they are built and flown.It provides practical recipes for reducing cost in both new and ongoing missions and discusses what works, what government can do to help, and what methods intended to reduce cost may be counterproductive and unintentionally increase cost. As shown on the inside rear cover, the case studies described in the book have reduced total mission cost by 80% to more than 90% with respect to projections by traditional cost methods. This book is a follow-on to the now standard text and reference, Space Mission Analysis and Design, also edited by Drs. Wertz and Larson. It is required reading for professionals, students, and managers in astronautics or space sciences and managers or scientists involved in space experiments. This book shows that reducing space mission cost, without reducing reliability, is as possible as it is important for the future of space exploration.

This famous and practical handbook for Space Mission Engineering draws on leading aerospace experts to carry readers through mission design, from orbit selection to ground ops. SMAD III updates the technology, provides greater emphasis on small spacecraft design and the cost-reduction process, and includes more detail on multi-satellite manufacturing, space computers, payload design and autonomous systems.

Mission Geometry: Orbit and Constellation Design and Management (OCDM) is the most complete treatment available for many elements of space mission design and astronautics. OCDM discusses both the similarities and differences between orbit and altitude systems in terms of hardware, algorithms, design, and processing requirements. With the demand for reduced cost and the introduction of extensive on-board computing, what were once entirely separate disciplines have begun to merge. This volume will speed that process. In all areas, OCDM is meant to be practical, with recommendations, insights, formulas, and numerical recipes based on 40 years of spaceflight experience from organizations worldwide. It is meant to be both a text and reference work that can be used by those entering the field and by senior engineers engaged in the design, analysis, construction, or on-orbit operations of orbit and attitude systems and components.

This fundamental 3rd Edition offers a comprehensive overview of performance declines observed in astronauts and cosmonauts throughout various space missions, spanning from Gagarin's flight to the Apollo lunar surface activities, as well as Space Shuttle landings and long-duration stays on board the International Space Station. This evidence forms the basis for identifying risks to crew health and performance during extended space missions, as well as for developing countermeasures to mitigate these risks.In this edition, you'll read how space agencies are currently gearing up for human missions beyond low-Earth orbit, which necessitates addressing numerous physiological, psychological, operational, and scientific challenges prior to establishing bases on the surface of Moon and Mars. The emerging commercial sub-orbital and orbital flight capabilities have captivated both the public and the scientific community. This book also identifies the anticipated hurdles, or "showstoppers," for these space missions and what must be understood to grasp fully the implications and risks for space explorers.Over 650 astronauts from various nations have collectively spent over 184 years in space. Currently, the 72nd expedition crew resides on the International Space Station, maintaining a continuous human presence since 2000. Investigations during this time have explored issues like bone and muscle health, space motion sickness, immune function changes, crew dynamics, and medical challenges such as visual impairment and radiation effects. These studies, including those led by Gilles Clément, have provided valuable insights into human adaptation to space.

This fundamental 3rd Edition offers a comprehensive overview of performance declines observed in astronauts and cosmonauts throughout various space missions, spanning from Gagarin's flight to the Apollo lunar surface activities, as well as Space Shuttle landings and long-duration stays on board the International Space Station. This evidence forms the basis for identifying risks to crew health and performance during extended space missions, as well as for developing countermeasures to mitigate these risks.In this edition, you'll read how space agencies are currently gearing up for human missions beyond low-Earth orbit, which necessitates addressing numerous physiological, psychological, operational, and scientific challenges prior to establishing bases on the surface of Moon and Mars. The emerging commercial sub-orbital and orbital flight capabilities have captivated both the public and the scientific community. This book also identifies the anticipated hurdles, or "showstoppers," for these space missions and what must be understood to grasp fully the implications and risks for space explorers.Over 650 astronauts from various nations have collectively spent over 184 years in space. Currently, the 72nd expedition crew resides on the International Space Station, maintaining a continuous human presence since 2000. Investigations during this time have explored issues like bone and muscle health, space motion sickness, immune function changes, crew dynamics, and medical challenges such as visual impairment and radiation effects. These studies, including those led by Gilles Clément, have provided valuable insights into human adaptation to space.

Space activities are currently in a transitional phase: the shift from publicly financed to private activities is a result of reduced public funding and increased commercial space opportunities. This leads to an increased commercial space marketing mix and marketing management. A classical `4Ps' approach is proposed, covering the Product, Price, Physical distribution, and Promotion of space activities. Special emphasis is placed on technology transfer, spin-off, and intellectual property aspects, as well as on aspects of space economy, such as alternate financing schemes like PPP (Public-Private Partnership) and sponsoring. However, space activists require broad public support and the exploratory aspect of space activities, the `Space Frontier' dimensions should not be ignored. For this reason, the philosophical dimension as an integral part of the marketing mix is elaborated in detail. The approach is illustrated with two case studies: commercialisation of the International Space Station (ISS) and the emerging Space Tourism market.

This book focuses on the interrelationship of social, technical, and organizational aspects of and related to the product development process. It originated from activities in practice in industry and research laboratories. In order to ensure relative autonomy from the short-term economic interests of a given industrial branch or specific company, the research for this work was first conducted in pursuit of a PhD thesis intended to provide practice-oriented results. With the ansatz practice – theory – practice, a generalizable approach was achieved. It then evolved to cover additional issues brought forth by recent cases in the aerospace industry, among others. A combination of scientific methodologies is used to focus on the psychological factors that influence the quality of technical product development processes. The basic framework is provided by the grounded theory—a qualitative approach, in which data was not only collected by this author but is extended to cases from the history of technology described in the published literature. The inclusion of historical cases is possible, thanks to the availability of sufficiently detailed descriptions for examination in terms of the grounded theory principles. They appear in the Appendix. Cases cited were verified by comparing them with contrasting viewpoints from various sources. I was able to examine and complement some cases by contacting persons associated with the programs analyzed. Quantitative studies are also integrated in this research to verify the elements resulting from the grounded theory integration.

Essential Spaceflight Dynamics and Magnetospherics describes, in the first instance, some of the key aspects of celestial mechanics and spaceflight dynamics. It begins with classical two and three body problems illustrative of the aesthetic aspects of applying analytical methods of investigation to celestial mechanics. Then, osculating orbital elements are introduced as well as analysis techniques sufficient to evaluate the influence of various disturbing forces on spacecraft. Next a theory of manoeuvres is outlined and the methodology of making interplanetary trajectory corrections. Ideas involving various approaches to orbital element determinations using measured data are also considered. The forces applied to a spacecraft can result in the development of torques that influence attitude motion and the effects of the most important of these are described in terms of equilibrium positions, periodic motions, steady-state and transient motions. Also considered is the problem of attitude control of a spacecraft using active and/or passive methods of orientation and stabilization. In addition, a more advanced treatment of the development of attitude control systems is provided.

A total of more than 240 human space flights have been completed to date, involving about 450 astronauts from various countries, for a combined total presence in space of more than 70 years. The seventh long-duration expedition crew is currently in residence aboard the International Space Station, continuing a permanent presence in space that began in October 2000. During that time, investigations have been conducted on both humans and animal models to study the bone demineralization and muscle deconditioning, space motion sickness, the causes and possible treatment of postflight orthostatic intolerance, the changes in immune function, crew and crew-ground interactions, and the medical issues of living in a space environment, such as the effects of radiation or the risk of developing kidney stones. Some results of these investigations have led to fundamental discoveries about the adaptation of the human body to the space environment. Gilles Clément has been active in this research. This readable text presents the findings from the life science experiments conducted during and after space missions.Topics discussed in this book include: adaptation of sensory-motor, cardio-vascular, bone, and muscle systems to the microgravity of spaceflight; psychological and sociological issues of living in a confined, isolated, and stressful environment; operational space medicine, such as crew selection, training and in-flight health monitoring, countermeasures and support; results of space biology experiments on individual cells, plants, and animal models; and the impact of long-duration missions such as the human mission to Mars. The author also provides a detailed description of how to fly a space experiment, based on his own experience with research projects conducted onboard Salyut-7, Mir, Spacelab, and the Space Shuttle.Now is the time to look at the future of human spaceflight and what comes next. The future human exploration of Mars capturesthe imagination of both the public and the scientific community. Many physiological, psychological, operational, and scientific issues need to be solved before the first crew can explore the enigmatic Red Planet. This book also identifies the showstoppers that can be foreseen and what we need to learn to fully understand the implications and risks of such a mission.

Multiphase thermal systems (involving more than one phase or one component) have numerous applications in aerospace, heat-exchanger, transport of contaminants in environmental systems, and energy transport and energy conversion systems. Advances in understanding the behaviour of multiphase thermal systems could lead to higher efficiency energy production systems, improved heat-exchanger design, and safer and enhanced treatment of hazardous waste. But such advances have been greatly hindered by the strong effect of gravitational acceleration on the flow. Depending on the flow orientation and the phase velocities, gravitational forces could significantly alter the flow regime, and hence the pressure-drop and heat-transfer coefficients associated with the flow. A reduced gravity environment (or "microgravity"), provides an excellent tool to study the flow without the masking effects of gravity. This book presents for the first time a comprehensive coverage of all aspects of two-phase flow behaviour in the virtual absence of gravity.

1st edition: Winner of the 2004 IAA Life Sciences Book Award!This 2nd Edition represents a complete revision with about 23% more pages and new material compared to the first edition; it includes several recent studies involving astronauts and cosmonauts; and discusses the new field of space tourism. It deals with psychological, psychiatric, and psychosocial issues that affect people who live and work in space. Unlike other books that focus on anecdotal reports and ground-based simulation studies, this book emphasizes the findings from psychological research conducted during actual space missions. Both authors have been active in such research. What is presented in this readable text has previously been found only in scientific journal articles. Topics that are discussed include: behavioral adaptation to space; human performance and cognitive effects; crewmember interactions; psychiatric responses; psychological countermeasures related to habitability factors, work-design, selection, training, and in-flight monitoring and support; and the impact of expeditionary missions to Mars and beyond. People finding this book of interest will include psychology and social science students and professors in universities, medical students and residents in psychiatry and aerospace medicine, human factors workers in space and aviation professions, individuals involved with isolated environments on Earth (e.g., the Antarctic, submarines), aerospace workers in businesses and space agencies such as NASA and ESA, and anyone who is interested in learning the facts about the human side of long-duration space missions.1st edition reviews: ‘Drs. Kanas and Manzey have produced a comprehensive review of the issues and research in the areas of space psychology and psychiatry. This includes a long overdue up-to-date compilation of findings from research performed in space as well as anecdotal reports. The authors' personal involvementand experience in space research and operations shows throughout the book in its presentation and research of the issues as well as in the insights offered. Highly informative, well organized and written at a level appropriate for a broad range of readers, this book will be a reference source for space professionals, researchers, students, and interested laymen alike. ‘Leena Tomi, Deputy Director, Operational Space Medicine, Canadian Space Agency Jean-Marc Comtois, B.Eng., M.D. Director, Operational Space Medicine, Canadian Space Agency'An excellent book by two outstanding experts. The refreshing mix between review and original research results spiced with personal experiences makes it interesting for every reader.'Oliver Angerer, M.D., Human Exploration Science Coordinator, European Space Agency"This book is not just a record of what can go wrong with regard to mental health and performance, but explores a number of prudent psychological, ergonomic, and design engineering countermeasures to help guide future mission planners and spacecraft engineers[…]Written in a clear and engaging style, this book will not only interest the general space enthusiast, but all human factors specialists and anyone else studying the human reaction to extreme and unusual environments. As a comprehensive account of what we have learned so far about the psychological challenges of space travel, Space Psychology and Psychiatry should also be on the bookshelf of any researcher plotting the future course of human spaceflight."Ergonomics in Design

Fundamentals of Space Biology is the third textbook addressing Space Life Sciences in this Space Technology Library series. The first of these books focused on the psychological and psychiatric issues that affect people who live and work in space (Volume 16, Space Psychology and Psychiatry). The second book described the physiological and medical issues of living in a space environment (Volume 17, Fundamentals of Space Medicine). The objective of this third book was to review the effects of spaceflight on less complex biological systems, from single cells to animals and plants. Indeed, to better understand the changes at the function level, it is necessary to comprehend the changes at cellular and tissue levels. Studies of cell cultures, for example, allow the investigation of the indirect effects of gravity; i.e., those which occur not because of changes in the stimulation of dedicated gravity-sensing organs, but because of the new physical properties resulting from the reduction in gravitational force within the cell.

And finally, there are new space research opportunities with the Orion space vehicle that will soon replace the Space Shuttle, the Moon, and Mars space exploration program that is slowly but surely taking shape, and the space tourism sector that has become a reality.

Beginning with the basic elements that differentiate space programs from other management challenges, Space Program Management explains through theory and example of real programs from around the world, the philosophical and technical tools needed to successfully manage large, technically complex space programs both in the government and commercial environment. Chapters address both systems and configuration management, the management of risk, estimation, measurement and control of both funding and the program schedule, and the structure of the aerospace industry worldwide.

The definition of all space systems starts with the establishment of its fundamental parameters: requirements to be fulfilled, overall system and satellite design, analysis and design of the critical elements, developmental approach, cost, and schedule. There are only a few texts covering early design of space systems and none of them has been specifically dedicated to it. Furthermore all existing space engineering books concentrate on analysis. None of them deal with space system synthesis – with the interrelations between all the elements of the space system. Introduction to Space Systems concentrates on understanding the interaction between all the forces, both technical and non-technical, which influence the definition of a space system. This book refers to the entire system: space and ground segments, mission objectives as well as to cost, risk, and mission success probabilities. Introduction to Space Systems is divided into two parts. The first part analyzes the process of space system design in an abstract way. The second part of the book focuses on concrete aspects of the space system design process. It concentrates on interactions between design decisions and uses past design examples to illustrate these interactions. The idea is for the reader to acquire a good insight in what is a good design by analyzing these past designs.

This title analyzes distributed Earth observation missions from different perspectives. In particular, the issues arising when the payloads are distributed on different satellites are considered from both the theoretical and practical points of view. Moreover, the problems of designing, measuring, and controlling relative trajectories are thoroughly presented in relation to theory and applicable technologies. Then, the technological challenges to design satellites able to support such missions are tackled. An ample and detailed description of missions and studies complements the book subject.

Want to know not just what makes rockets go up but how to do it optimally? Optimal control theory has become such an important field in aerospace engineering that no graduate student or practicing engineer can afford to be without a working knowledge of it. This is the first book that begins from scratch to teach the reader the basic principles of the calculus of variations, develop the necessary conditions step-by-step, and introduce the elementary computational techniques of optimal control. This book, with problems and an online solution manual, provides the graduate-level reader with enough introductory knowledge so that he or she can not only read the literature and study the next level textbook but can also apply the theory to find optimal solutions in practice. No more is needed than the usual background of an undergraduate engineering, science, or mathematics program: namely calculus, differential equations, and numerical integration.Although finding optimal solutions for these problems is a complex process involving the calculus of variations, the authors carefully lay out step-by-step the most important theorems and concepts. Numerous examples are worked to demonstrate how to apply the theories to everything from classical problems (e.g., crossing a river in minimum time) to engineering problems (e.g., minimum-fuel launch of a satellite). Throughout the book use is made of the time-optimal launch of a satellite into orbit as an important case study with detailed analysis of two examples: launch from the Moon and launch from Earth. For launching into the field of optimal solutions, look no further!

The definition of all space systems starts with the establishment of its fundamental parameters: requirements to be fulfilled, overall system and satellite design, analysis and design of the critical elements, developmental approach, cost, and schedule. There are only a few texts covering early design of space systems and none of them has been specifically dedicated to it. Furthermore all existing space engineering books concentrate on analysis. None of them deal with space system synthesis – with the interrelations between all the elements of the space system. Introduction to Space Systems concentrates on understanding the interaction between all the forces, both technical and non-technical, which influence the definition of a space system. This book refers to the entire system: space and ground segments, mission objectives as well as to cost, risk, and mission success probabilities. Introduction to Space Systems is divided into two parts. The first part analyzes the process of space system design in an abstract way. The second part of the book focuses on concrete aspects of the space system design process. It concentrates on interactions between design decisions and uses past design examples to illustrate these interactions. The idea is for the reader to acquire a good insight in what is a good design by analyzing these past designs.

This title analyzes distributed Earth observation missions from different perspectives. In particular, the issues arising when the payloads are distributed on different satellites are considered from both the theoretical and practical points of view. Moreover, the problems of designing, measuring, and controlling relative trajectories are thoroughly presented in relation to theory and applicable technologies. Then, the technological challenges to design satellites able to support such missions are tackled. An ample and detailed description of missions and studies complements the book subject.

William H. Paloski, Ph. D. Human Adaptation and Countermeasures Office NASA Johnson Space Center Artificial gravity is an old concept, having gotten its start in the late in the 19th century when Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, considered by many to be the father of the Russian space program, realized that the human body might not respond well to the free fall of orbital space flight. To solve this problem, he proposed that space stations be rotated to create centripetal accelerations that might provide inertial loading similar to terrestrial gravitational loading. Einstein later showed in his equivalence principle that acceleration is indeed indistinguishable from gravity. Subsequently, other individuals of note, including scientists like Werner von Braun as well as artists like Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick, devised elaborate solutions for spinning vehicles to provide “artificial gravity” that would offset the untoward physiological consequences of spaceflight. By 1959, concerns about the then-unknown human responses to spaceflight drove NASA to consider the necessity of incorporating artificial gravity in its earliest human space vehicles. Of course, owing in part to the relatively short durations of the planned missions, artificial gravity was not used in the early NASA programs.

This book explores topics that are central to the field of spacecraft attitude determination and control. The authors provide rigorous theoretical derivations of significant algorithms accompanied by a generous amount of qualitative discussions of the subject matter. The book documents the development of the important concepts and methods in a manner accessible to practicing engineers, graduate-level engineering students and applied mathematicians. It includes detailed examples from actual mission designs to help ease the transition from theory to practice and also provides prototype algorithms that are readily available on the author’s website.Subject matter includes both theoretical derivations and practical implementation of spacecraft attitude determination and control systems. It provides detailed derivations for attitude kinematics and dynamics and provides detailed description of the most widely used attitude parameterization, the quaternion. This title also provides a thorough treatise of attitude dynamics including Jacobian elliptical functions. It is the first known book to provide detailed derivations and explanations of state attitude determination and gives readers real-world examples from actual working spacecraft missions. The subject matter is chosen to fill the void of existing textbooks and treatises, especially in state and dynamics attitude determination. MATLAB code of all examples will be provided through an external website.

Want to know not just what makes rockets go up but how to do it optimally? Optimal control theory has become such an important field in aerospace engineering that no graduate student or practicing engineer can afford to be without a working knowledge of it. This is the first book that begins from scratch to teach the reader the basic principles of the calculus of variations, develop the necessary conditions step-by-step, and introduce the elementary computational techniques of optimal control. This book, with problems and an online solution manual, provides the graduate-level reader with enough introductory knowledge so that he or she can not only read the literature and study the next level textbook but can also apply the theory to find optimal solutions in practice. No more is needed than the usual background of an undergraduate engineering, science, or mathematics program: namely calculus, differential equations, and numerical integration.Although finding optimal solutions for these problems is a complex process involving the calculus of variations, the authors carefully lay out step-by-step the most important theorems and concepts. Numerous examples are worked to demonstrate how to apply the theories to everything from classical problems (e.g., crossing a river in minimum time) to engineering problems (e.g., minimum-fuel launch of a satellite). Throughout the book use is made of the time-optimal launch of a satellite into orbit as an important case study with detailed analysis of two examples: launch from the Moon and launch from Earth. For launching into the field of optimal solutions, look no further!

Beginning with the basic elements that differentiate space programs from other management challenges, Space Program Management explains through theory and example of real programs from around the world, the philosophical and technical tools needed to successfully manage large, technically complex space programs both in the government and commercial environment. Chapters address both systems and configuration management, the management of risk, estimation, measurement and control of both funding and the program schedule, and the structure of the aerospace industry worldwide.