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Archive-name: space/references
Last-modified: $Date: 95/05/01 22:20:16 $
Compilation copyright (c) 1994 by Jonathan P. Leech. This document may
be redistributed in its complete and unmodified form. Other use requires
written permission of the author.
REFERENCES ON SPECIFIC AREAS
PUBLISHERS OF SPACE/ASTRONOMY MATERIAL
Astronomical Society of the Pacific
1290 24th Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94122
More expensive but better organized slide sets.
Cambridge University Press
32 East 57th Street
New York, NY 10022
Crawford-Peters Aeronautica
P.O. Box 152528
San Diego, CA 92115
(619) 287-3933
An excellent source of all kinds of space publications. They publish
a number of catalogs, including:
Aviation and Space, 1945-1962
Aviation and Space, 1962-1990
Space and Related Titles
European Southern Observatory
Information and Photographic Service
Dr R.M. West
Karl Scharzschild Strasse 2
D-8046 Garching bei Munchen
FRG
Slide sets, posters, photographs, conference proceedings.
Finley Holiday Film Corporation
12607 East Philadelphia Street
Whittier, California 90601
(213)945-3325
(800)FILMS-07
Wide selection of Apollo, Shuttle, Viking, and Voyager slides at ~50
cents/slide. Call for a catalog.
Hansen Planetarium Publications
1845 South 300 West, # A
Salt Lake City, Utah 84115-1804
(801-483-5400) / (800)-321-2369
(801)-483-5484 (fax)
Said to hold sales on old slide sets. Look in Sky & Telescope
for contact info.
Lunar and Planetary Institute
also Univ. Space Research Assn. (USRA) Division of Educational Programs
also USRA Division of Space Life Sciences
Center for Advanced Space Studies
3600 Bay Area Boulevard
Houston TX 77058-1113
(713)-486-2182
LPI has a quarterly magazine, "The Lunar and Planetary Information
Bulletin," edited by thompson@lpi.jsc.nasa.gov (P. Thompson). Also
technical, geology-oriented slide sets, with supporting booklets.
John Wiley & Sons
605 Third Avenue
New York, NY 10158-0012
Sky Publishing Corporation
PO Box 9111
Belmont, MA 02178-9111
Offers "Sky Catalogue 2000.0" on PC floppy with information
(including parallax) for 45000 stars.
Roger Wheate
Geography Dept.
University of Calgary, Alberta
Canada T2N 1N4
(403)-220-4892
(403)-282-7298 (FAX)
wheate@uncamult.bitnet
Offers a 40-slide set called "Mapping the Planets" illustrating
recent work in planetary cartography, comes with a booklet and
information on getting your own copies of the maps. $50 Canadian,
shipping included.
Superintendent of Documents
US Government Printing Office
Washington, DC 20402
Univelt, Inc.
P. O. Box 28130
San Diego, Ca. 92128
Publishers for the American Astronomical Society.
US Naval Observatory
202-653-1079 (USNO Bulletin Board via modem)
202-653-1507 General
Willmann-Bell
P.O. Box 35025
Richmond, Virginia 23235 USA
(804)-320-7016 9-5 EST M-F
CAREERS IN THE SPACE INDUSTRY
In 1990 the Princeton Planetary Society published the first edition of
"Space Jobs: The Guide to Careers in Space-Related Fields." The
publication was enormously successful: we distributed 2000 copies to
space enthusiasts across the country and even sent a few to people in
Great Britain, Australia, and Ecuador. Due to the tremendous response to
the first edition, PPS has published an expanded, up-to-date second
edition of the guide.
The 40-page publication boasts 69 listings for summer and full-time job
opportunities as well as graduate school programs. The second edition of
"Space Jobs" features strategies for entering the space field and
describes positions at consulting and engineering firms, NASA, and
non-profit organizations. The expanded special section on graduate
schools highlights a myriad of programs ranging from space manufacturing
to space policy. Additional sections include tips on becoming an
astronaut and listings of NASA Space Grant Fellowships and Consortia, as
well as NASA Centers for the Commercial Development of Space.
To order send check or money order made payable to Princeton Planetary
Society for $4 per copy, plus $1 per copy for shipping and handling
(non-US customers send an International Money Order payable in US
dollars) to:
Princeton Planetary Society
315 West College
Princeton University
Princeton, NJ 08544
SL-9 COMET/JUPITER IMPACT
Dan Bruton (astro@tamu.edu) maintains a lengthy FAQ covering the
spectacular impact of fragments of Comet P/Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter
in July, 1994. It can be obtained at
ftp://ftp.tamu.edu/pub/comet/cometfaq.txt
The JPL Shoemaker-Levy home page has a large collection of images and
the latest news on the impact; it's at
http://newproducts.jpl.nasa.gov/sl9/
DC-X SINGLE-STAGE TO ORBIT (SSTO) PROGRAM
BMDO SSRT (Single Stage Rocket Technology) project has funded a
suborbital technology demonstrator called DC-X that flew successfully
three times in August and September 1993.
The SSRT program has been moved from BMDO to NASA. Plans are to upgrade
the DC-X vehicle and continue flight tests, followed by a building more
capable test vehicles (designated X-33 and X-34). With luck this would
culminate in a SSTO demonstrator in 5-6 years. DC-X and the SSTO concept
have attracted a great deal of interest on the net, and discussion
continues.
An collection of pictures and files relating to DC-X is at
ftp://ftp.cc.utexas.edu/pub/delta-clipper/
http://gargravarr.cc.utexas.edu/delta-clipper/title.html
A SSRT news mailing list, which echoes additions to this archive site,
can be subscribed to by sending email to
"listserv@zimbazi.cc.utexas.edu" with a first line containing "subscribe
ssrt-news".
Contact Chris W. Johnson (chrisj@bongo.cc.utexas.edu).
HOW TO NAME A STAR AFTER A PERSON
Official names are decided by committees of the International
Astronomical Union, and are not for sale. There are purely commercial
organizations which will, for a fee, send you pretty certificates and
star maps describing where to find "your" star. These organizations have
absolutely no standing in the astronomical community and the names they
assign are not used by anyone else. It's also likely that you won't be
able to see "your" star without binoculars or a telescope. See the back
pages of Astronomy or other amateur astronomy publications for contact
info; one such organization may be found at:
International Star Registry
34523 Wilson Road
Ingleside, IL 60041
This is not an endorsement of ISR.
LLNL "GREAT EXPLORATION"
The LLNL "Great Exploration", a plan for an on-the-cheap space station,
Lunar base, and Mars mission using inflatable space structures, excited
a lot of interest on the net and still comes up from time to time. Some
references cited during net discussion were:
Avation Week Jan 22, 1990 for an article on the overall Great
Exploration
NASA Assessment of the LLNL Space Exploration Proposal and LLNL
Responses by Dr. Lowell Wood LLNL Doc. No. SS 90-9. Their address
is: PO Box 808 Livermore, CA 94550 (the NASA authors are unknown).
Briefing slides of a presentation to the NRC last December may be
available. Write LLNL and ask.
Conceptual Design Study for Modular Inflatable Space Structures, a
final report for purchase order B098747 by ILC Dover INC. I don't
know how to get this except from LLNL or ILC Dover. I don't have an
address for ILC.
LUNAR PROSPECTOR
Lunar Exploration Inc. (LEI) is a non-profit corporation working on a
privately funded lunar polar orbiter. Lunar Prospector is designed to
perform a geochemical survey and search for frozen volatiles at the
poles. A set of reference files describing the project is in
ftp://explorer.arc.nasa.gov/pub/SPACE/LEI/
LUNAR SCIENCE AND ACTIVITIES
Grant H Heiken, David T Vaniman, and Bevan M French (editors), "Lunar
Sourcebook, A User's Guide to the Moon", Cambridge University Press
1991, ISBN 0-521-33444-6; hardcover; expensive. A one-volume
encyclopedia of essentially everything known about the Moon, reviewing
current knowledge in considerable depth, with copious references. Heavy
emphasis on geology, but a lot more besides, including considerable
discussion of past lunar missions and practical issues relevant to
future mission design. *The* reference book for the Moon; all others are
obsolete.
Wendell Mendell (ed), "Lunar Bases and Space Activities of the 21st
Century", $15. "Every serious student of lunar bases *must* have this
book" - Bill Higgins. Available from:
Lunar and Planetary Institute
3303 NASA Road One
Houston, TX 77058-4399
If you want to order books, call (713)486-2172.
Thomas A. Mutch, "Geology of the Moon: A Stratigraphic View", Princeton
University Press, 1970. Information about the Lunar Orbiter missions,
including maps of the coverage of the lunar nearside and farside by
various Orbiters.
MARS DIRECT / LUNAR DIRECT
Robert Zubrin and collaborators have developed several proposals for
near-term, low cost manned missions to Mars and the Moon. These
proposals center around the use of "indigenous propellants" to reduce
the mass which must be launched from Earth - for example, sending a
robotic "mining" vehicle to Mars before the astronauts arrive, which
would extract methane from the atmosphere for use on the return trip.
Some references are:
Zubrin, R. and Baker, D., "Mars Direct: A Simple, Robust, and Cost
Effective Architecture for the Space Exploration Initiative, AIAA
paper 91-0326, 29th Aerospace Science Meeting, Reno, Nevada, Jan.
7-10, 1991.
Zubrin, R. and Baker, D., "Humans to Mars in 1999", Aerospace
America, Aug. 1990, p. 30-32, 41.
Walberg, G., "Ho Shall We Go to Mars? A Review of Mission
Scenarios", Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, Vol. 30, No. 2,
Mar.-Apr. 1993, p.129-139.
ORBITING EARTH SATELLITE HISTORIES
A list of Earth orbiting satellites (that are still in orbit) is in
ftp://explorer.arc.nasa.gov/pub/SPACE/FAQ/Satellites
SPACECRAFT MODELS
References to plans, kits, building, and other information can be found
in the Rec.Models.Rockets FAQ in the rec.models.rockets newsgroup.
Greg Bollendonk (gregb@gemini.den.mmc.com) has provided a list of
spacecraft models, current prices, mail order sources, and periodicals
and literature in the field. This is available at
ftp://explorer.arc.nasa.gov/pub/SPACE/FAQ/ModelCatalog
ROCKET PROPULSION
George P. Sutton, "Rocket Propulsion Elements", 5th edn,
Wiley-Interscience 1986, ISBN 0-471-80027-9. Pricey textbook. The
best (nearly the only) modern introduction to the technical side of
rocketry. A good place to start if you want to know the details. Not
for the math-shy. Straight chemical rockets, essentially nothing on
more advanced propulsion (although earlier editions reportedly had
some coverage).
Dieter K. Huzel and David H. Huang, "Modern Engineering for Design
of Liquid Propellant Rocket Engines", revised, updated, and enlarged
by many others. Volume 147 in Progress in Astronautics and
Aeronautics, AIAA 1992, ISBN 1-56347-013-6.
Order through "Tasco", which sells books for the AIAA. They are
reachable at 1-800-682-2422, 9 to 5 eastern time. Cost is $109.95.
The updated version is well worth having. In spite of its title, it
isn't strictly limited to engines but also deals with issues closely
coupled to engine design, such as tank pressurization,
engine-vehicle interfaces etc. It appears that the update is largely
the work of the older generation of engineers at Rocketdyne, with
the idea that "It is immensely important that the skills,
experience, and know-how of this earlier generation be preserved and
passed on to a younger generation - clearly, completely, and
effectively" (W.F. Ezell, V.P. Engineering, Rocketdyne, in the
book's preface). [review by Bruce Dunn]
SPACECRAFT DESIGN
Brij N. Agrawal, "Design of Geosynchronous Spacecraft",
Prentice-Hall, ISBN 0-13-200114-4.
James R. Wertz ed, "Spacecraft Attitude Determination and
Control", Kluwer, ISBN 90-277-1204-2.
P.R.K. Chetty, "Satellite Technology and its Applications",
McGraw-Hill, ISBN 0-8306-9688-1.
"Spacecraft Systems Engineering", Peter Fortescue and John Stark
(editors), John Wiley & Sons, ISBN 0-471-93451-8.
Henry Spencer: "I think I would rate this as better than
Wertz&Larson in a lot of ways. It doesn't go into the same depth
on some topics, especially the ones that are more mission
planning than hardware design. On the other hand, it goes into
noticeably more depth on many things, and it is generally more
interesting reading. For serious spacecraft engineering I'd want
both, but this is the one I'd recommend for someone who just
wanted to buy one book for a good technical overview."
James R. Wertz and Wiley J. Larson (editors), "Space Mission
Analysis and Design", Kluwer Academic Publishers
(Dordrecht/Boston/London) 1991, ISBN 0-7923-0971-5 (paperback), or
0-7923-0970-7 (hardback).
This looks at system-level design of a spacecraft, rather than
detailed design. 23 chapters, 4 appendices, about 430 pages. It
leads the reader through the mission design and system-level
design of a fictitious earth-observation satellite, to
illustrate the principles that it tries to convey. Warning:
although the book is chock-full of many useful reference tables,
some of the numbers in at least one of those tables (launch
costs for various launchers) appear to be quite wrong. Can be
ordered by telephone, using a credit card; Kluwer's phone number
is (617)-871-6600. Cost $34.50.
ESOTERIC PROPULSION SCHEMES (SOLAR SAILS, LASERS, FUSION...)
Dani Eder (eder@hsvaic.hv.boeing.com) maintains a "Canonical List of
Space Transport Methods" describing dozens of concepts and providing
some in-depth references to the technical literature. This is available
from
ftp://explorer.arc.nasa.gov/pub/SPACE/FAQ/eder_transport_list
A smaller set of references on some of these concepts follows.
ANTIMATTER
"Antiproton Annihilation Propulsion", Robert Forward
AFRPL TR-85-034 from the Air Force Rocket Propulsion Laboratory
(AFRPL/XRX, Stop 24, Edwards Air Force Base, CA 93523-5000).
NTIS AD-A160 734/0 PC A10/MF A01
PC => Paper copy, A10 => $US57.90 -- or maybe Price Code?
MF => MicroFiche, A01 => $US13.90
Technical study on making, holding, and using antimatter for
near-term (30-50 years) propulsion systems. Excellent
bibliography. Forward is the best-known proponent
of antimatter.
This also may be available as UDR-TR-85-55 from the contractor,
the University of Dayton Research Institute, and DTIC AD-A160
from the Defense Technical Information Center, Defense Logistics
Agency, Cameron Station, Alexandria, VA 22304-6145. And it's
also available from the NTIS, with yet another number.
"Advanced Space Propulsion Study, Antiproton and Beamed Power
Propulsion", Robert Forward
AFAL TR-87-070 from the Air Force Astronautics Laboratory, DTIC
#AD-A189 218.
NTIS AD-A189 218/1 PC A10/MF A01
Summarizes the previous paper, goes into detail on beamed power
systems including " 1) pellet, microwave, and laser beamed power
systems for intersteller transport; 2) a design for a
near-relativistic laser-pushed lightsail using near-term laser
technology; 3) a survey of laser thermal propulsion, tether
transportation systems, antiproton annihilation propulsion,
exotic applications of solar sails, and laser-pushed
interstellar lightsails; 4) the status of antiproton
annihilation propulsion as of 1986; and 5) the prospects for
obtaining antimatter ions heavier than antiprotons." Again,
there is an extensive bibliography.
"Application of Antimatter - Electric Power to Interstellar
Propulsion", G. D. Nordley, JBIS Interstellar Studies issue of
6/90.
BUSSARD RAMJETS AND RELATED METHODS
R. W. Bussard, "Galactic Matter and Interstellar Flight",
Astronautica Acta 6 (1960): 179 - 194.
G. L. Matloff and A. J. Fennelly, "Interstellar Applications and
Limitations of Several Electrostatic/Electromagnetic Ion Collection
Techniques", JBIS 30 (1977):213-222
N. H. Langston, "The Erosion of Interstellar Drag Screens", JBIS 26
(1973): 481-484
C. Powell, "Flight Dynamics of the Ram-Augmented Interstellar
Rocket", JBIS 28 (1975):553-562
A. R. Martin, "The Effects of Drag on Relativistic Spacefight", JBIS
25 (1972):643-652
D.P. Whitmire, "Relativistic Spaceflight and the Catalytic Nuclear
Ramjet", Acta Astronautica 2 (1975): 497 - 509.
D.P. Whitmire and A.A. Jackson, "Laser Powered Interstellar Ramjet",
JBIS 30 (1977):223 - 226.
FUSION
"A Laser Fusion Rocket for Interplanetary Propulsion", Roderick Hyde,
LLNL report UCRL-88857. (Contact the Technical Information Dept. at
Livermore)
Fusion Pellet design: Fuel selection. Energy loss mechanisms.
Pellet compression metrics. Thrust Chamber: Magnetic nozzle.
Shielding. Tritium breeding. Thermal modeling. Fusion Driver
(lasers, particle beams, etc): Heat rejection. Vehicle Summary:
Mass estimates. Vehicle Performance: Interstellar travel
required exhaust velocities at the limit of fusion's capability.
Interplanetary missions are limited by power/weight ratio.
Trajectory modeling. Typical mission profiles. References,
including the 1978 report in JBIS, "Project Daedalus", and
several on ICF and driver technology.
"Fusion as Electric Propulsion", Robert W. Bussard, Journal of
Propulsion and Power, Vol. 6, No. 5, Sept.-Oct. 1990
Fusion rocket engines are analyzed as electric propulsion
systems, with propulsion thrust-power-input-power ratio (the
thrust-power "gain" G(t)) much greater than unity. Gain values
of conventional (solar, fission) electric propulsion systems are
always quite small (e.g., G(t)<0.8). With these, "high-thrust"
interplanetary flight is not possible, because system
acceleration (a(t)) capabilities are always less than the local
gravitational acceleration. In contrast, gain values 50-100
times higher are found for some fusion concepts, which offer
"high-thrust" flight capability. One performance example shows a
53.3 day (34.4 powered; 18.9 coast), one-way transit time with
19% payload for a single-stage Earth/Mars vehicle. Another shows
the potential for high acceleration (a(t)=0.55g(o)) flight in
Earth/moon space.
"The QED Engine System: Direct Electric Fusion-Powered Systems for
Aerospace Flight Propulsion" by Robert W. Bussard, EMC2-1190-03,
available from Energy/Matter Conversion Corp., 9100 A. Center
Street, Manassas, VA 22110.
[This is an introduction to the application of Bussard's version
of the Farnsworth/Hirsch electrostatic confinement fusion
technology to propulsion. 1500<Isp<5000 sec. Farnsworth/Hirsch
demonstrated a 10**10 neutron flux with their device back in
1969 but it was dropped when panic ensued over the surprising
stability of the Soviet Tokamak. Hirsch, responsible for the
panic, has recently recanted and is back working on QED. -- Jim
Bowery]
"PLASMAKtm Star Power for Energy Intensive Space Applications", by
Paul M. Koloc, Eight ANS Topical Meeting on Technology of Fusion
Energy, special issue FUSION TECHNOLOGY, March 1989.
Aneutronic energy (fusion with little or negligible neutron
flux) requires plasma pressures and stable confinement times
larger than can be delivered by current approaches. If plasma
pressures appropriate to burn times on the order of milliseconds
could be achieved in aneutronic fuels, then high power densities
and very compact, realtively clean burning engines for space and
other special applications would be at hand. The PLASMAKtm
innovation will make this possible; its unique pressure
efficient structure, exceptional stability, fluid-mechanically
compressible Mantle and direct inductive MHD electric power
conversion advantages are described. Peak burn densities of tens
of megawats per cc give it compactness even in the
multi-gigawatt electric output size. Engineering advantages
indicate a rapid development schedule at very modest cost. [I
strongly recommend that people take this guy seriously. Bob
Hirsch, the primary proponent of the Tokamak, has recently
declared Koloc's PLASMAKtm precursor, the spheromak, to be one
of 3 promising fusion technologies that should be pursued rather
than Tokamak. Aside from the preceeding appeal to authority, the
PLASMAKtm looks like it finally models ball-lightning with solid
MHD physics. -- Jim Bowery]
GAS GUNS
There's a good article (replete with pictures) in the August 10,
1992 issue of Aviation Week entitled "World's Largest Light Gas Gun
Nears Completion at Livermore." In addition, that article refers to
another article on the same subject in their July 23, 1990 issue.
ION DRIVES
Retrieve
ftp://explorer.arc.nasa.gov/pub/SPACE/SPACELINK/6.5.2.*
These files deal with many aspects of ion drives and describe the
SERT I and II missions, which flight-tested cesium ion thrusters in
the 1960s and 70s. There are numerous references.
MASS DRIVERS (COILGUNS, RAILGUNS)
IEEE Transactions on Magnetics contain the proceedings of the
Symposium on Electromagnetic Launcher Technology, including hundreds
of papers on the subject. It's a good look at the state of the art,
though perhaps not a good tutorial for beginners. Anybody know some
good review papers?
Vol MAG-18, No. 1, Jan 82 (EML 1)
Vol MAG-20, No. 2, Mar 84 (EML 2)
Vol MAG-22, No. 6, Nov 86 (EML 3)
Vol 25, No. 1, Jan 89 (EML 4)
Vol 27, No. 1, Jan 91 (EML 5)
Vol 29, No. 1, Jan 93 (EML 6)
NUCLEAR ROCKETS (FISSION)
"Technical Notes on Nuclear Rockets", by Bruce W. Knight and Donald
Kingsbury, unpublished. May be available from: Donald Kingsbury,
Math Dept., McGill University, PO Box 6070, Station A, Montreal,
Quebec M3C 3G1 Canada.
"An Historical Perspective of the NERVA Nuclear Rocket Engine
Technology Program", W. H. Robbins and H. B. Finger, US Government
Document #NAS 1.26:187154. Written in 1990-91 as a summary when
consideration to restarting the nuclear rocket program was being
given.
RAM ACCELERATORS
"The Ram Accelerator: A New Chemical Method of Accelerating
Projectiles to Ultrahigh Velocities" A. Hertzberg, A.P. Bruckner,
and D.W. Bogdanoff, _AIAA_Journal_, Vol. 26, No. 2, February, 1988.
The seminal reference.
"The Ram Accelerator: A Chemically Driven Mass Launcher" P. Kaloupis
and A.P. Bruckner, AIAA Paper 88-2968, AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE 24th Joint
Propulsion Conference, July 11-13, 1988, Boston, MA.
Applications to surface-to-orbit launching.
"Ram Accelerator Demonstrates Potential for Hypervelocity Research,
Light Launch," Breck W. Henderson,
_Aviation_Week_&_Space_Technology_, September 30, 1991, pp. 50-51.
"Beyond Rockets: the Scramaccelerator" J.W. Humphreys and T.H.
Sobota, _Aerospace_America_, Vol. 29, June, 1991, pp. 18-21.
Non-technical articles on the status of ram accelerator
technology.
SOLAR SAILS
Starsailing. Solar Sails and Interstellar Travel. Louis Friedman,
Wiley, New York, 1988, 146 pp., paper $9.95. (Not very technical,
but an adequate overview.)
"Roundtrip Interstellar Travel Using Laser-Pushed Lightsails
(Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, vol. 21, pp. 187-95, Jan.-Feb.
1984)
TETHERS
_Tethers and Asteroids for Artificial Gravity Assist in the Solar
System,_ by P.A. Penzo and H.L. Mayer., _Journal of Spacecraft
and Rockets_ for Jan-Feb 1986.
Details how a spacecraft with a kevlar tether of the same mass
can change its velocity by up to slightly less than 1 km/sec. if
it is travelling under that velocity wrt a suitable asteroid.
"Tethers in Space Handbook, 2nd Edition", Paul A Penzo & Paul W
Ammann. NASA Office of Advanced Program Development, 1989.
NTIS N92-19248/3 PC A12/MF A03
It may be possible to obtain this handbook from:
NASA Office of Advanced Program Development
NASA HQ Code DD
Washington, DC 20546
NASA Conference Publication 2422
Applications of Tethers in Space
Workshop Proceedings Vols 1 and 2.
[Proceedings of a workshop held in Venice, Italy, Octover 15-17, 1985]
GENERAL
"Alternate Propulsion Energy Sources", Robert Forward
AFPRL TR-83-067.
NTIS AD-B088 771/1 PC A07/MF A01 Dec 83 138p
Keywords: Propulsion energy, metastable helium, free-radical
hydrogen, solar pumped (sic) plasmas, antiproton annihiliation,
ionospheric lasers, solar sails, perforated sails, microwave
sails, quantum fluctuations, antimatter rockets... It's a wide,
if not deep, look at exotic energy sources which might be useful
for space propulsion. It also considers various kinds of laser
propulsion, metallic hydrogen, tethers, and unconventional
nuclear propulsion. The bibliographic information, pointing to
the research on all this stuff, belongs on every daydreamer's
shelf.
Future Magic. Dr. Robert L. Forward, Avon, 1988. ISBN 0-380-89814-4.
Nontechnical discussion of tethers, antimatter, gravity control,
and even futher-out topics.
The Starflight Handbook: A Pioneer's Guide To Interstellar Travel.
Eugene F. Mallove and Gregory L. Matloff, Wiley, 1989. ISBN
0-471-61912-4.
Probably the best semi-technical introduction to interstellar
flight.
SPY SATELLITES
*Deep Black*, by William Burrows;
"best modern general book for spysats."
1) A Base For Debate: The US Satellite Station at Nurrungar, Des Ball,
Allen and Unwin Australia, 1987 ISBN 0 04 355027 4 [ covers DSP early
warning satellites]
2) Pine Gap: Australia and the US Geostationary Signals intelligence
satellite program, Des Ball, Allen and Unwin Australia, 1988 ISBN 0 04
363002 5. [covers RHYOLITE/AQUACADE, CHALET/VORTEX, and MAGNUM signals
intelligence satellites]
3) Guardians: Strategic Reconnaissance Satellites, Curtis Peebles, 1987,
Ian Allan, ISBN 0 7110 17654 [ good on MOL, military Salyut and Soviet
satellites, less so on others. Tends to believe what he's told so flaws
in discussion of DSP, RHYOLITE et al..]
4) America's Secret Eyes In Space: The Keyhole Spy Satellite Program,
Jeffrey Richelson, 1990, Harper and Row, ISBN 0 88730 285 8 [ in a class
of its own, *the* historical reference on the KEYHOLE satellites]
5) Secret Sentries in Space, Philip J Klass, 1971.
"long out of print but well worth a look"
SPACE CAPSULE LOCATIONS
Ross Finlayson (finlayson@eng.sun.com) has put together a list of
locations of space capsules of the Mercury/Gemini/Apollo type, in
http://xenon.stanford.edu/~rsf/CapsuleLocations
SPACE SHUTTLE COMPUTER SYSTEMS
A FAQ on the shuttle General Purpose Computers, maintained by Ken Jenks
(kjenks@gothamcity.jsc.nasa.gov), is at:
ftp://explorer.arc.nasa.gov/pub/SPACE/FAQ/shuttle-GPC-FAQ.txt
http://sd-www.jsc.nasa.gov/gpc.html
Some printed references:
%J Communications of the ACM
%V 27
%N 9
%D September 1984
%K Special issue on space [shuttle] computers
%A Myron Kayton
%T Avionics for Manned Spacecraft
%J IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems
%V 25
%N 6
%D November 1989
%P 786-827
Other various AIAA and IEEE publications.
Computers in Spaceflight: The NASA Experience,
James E. Tomayko, Wichita State University,
NASA Contractor Report CP-182505,
National Aeronautics and Space Administration,
Scientific and Technical Information Division,
1988, 417 pages.
Understanding Computers: Space,
by the Editors of Time-Life Books,
part of the multiple volume series "Understanding Computers",
Time-Life Books, Alexandria, Virginia,
1993, 128 pages, ISBN 0-8094-7590-1,
US $14.95.
Space Shuttle Avionics System
John F. Hanaway and Robert W. Moorehead
NASA SP-504
Available via:
Superintendent of Documents
U.S. Government Printing Office
Washington, DC 20402
Document #NAS 1.21:504.
This is an easily readable 62 page book that contains a wealth of
information including history, rationale, alternate designs considered,
design tradeoffs and descriptions of the Shuttle data processing system
(DPS) and its' associated Redundancy Management (RM) system and
philosophy. One of the authors is the former head of the NASA division
which developed the Shuttle DPS design.
SETI COMPUTATION (SIGNAL PROCESSING)
%A D. K. Cullers
%A Ivan R. Linscott
%A Bernard M. Oliver
%T Signal Processing in SETI
%J Communications of the ACM
%V 28
%N 11
%D November 1984
%P 1151-1163
%K CR Categories and Subject Descriptors: D.4.1 [Operating Systems]:
Process Management - concurrency; I.5.4 [Pattern Recognition]:
Applications - signal processing; J.2 [Phsyical Sciences and Engineering]:
astronomy
General Terms: Design
Additional Key Words and Phrases: digital Fourier transforms,
finite impulse-response filters, interstellar communications,
Search for Extra-terrestrial Intelligence, signal detection,
spectrum analysis
AMATEUR SATELLIES & WEATHER SATELLITES
A writeup on receiving and interpreting weather satellite photos is in
ftp://explorer.arc.nasa.gov/pub/SPACE/FAQ/WeatherPhotos
The American Radio Relay League publication service offers the following
references (also see the section on AMSAT in the space groups segment of
the FAQ):
ARRL Satellite Experimenters Handbook, #3185, $20
ARRL Weather Satellite Handbook, #3193, $20
IBM-PC software for Weather Satellite Handbook, #3290, $10
AMSAT NA 5th Space Symposium, #0739, $12
AMSAT NA 6th Space Symposium, #2219, $12
Shipping is extra.
The American Radio Relay League
Publications Department
225 Main Street
Newington, CT 06111
(203)-666-1541
TIDES
Srinivas Bettadpur contributed a writeup on tides, in
ftp://explorer.arc.nasa.gov/pub/SPACE/FAQ/Tides
It covers the following areas:
- 2-D Example of Tidal Deformation
- Treatment of Tidal Fields in Practice
- Long term evolution of the Earth-Moon system under tides
The writeup refers to the following texts:
"Geophysical Geodesy" by K. Lambeck
"Tides of the planet Earth" by P. Melchior
ASTRONOMICAL MNEMONICS
A listing of astronomical mnemonics is in
ftp://explorer.arc.nasa.gov/pub/SPACE/MISC/mnemonics
NOTE: the remaining FAQ sections do not appear in sci.astro, as they cover
material of relevance only to sci.space.
NEXT: FAQ #6/13 - Contacting NASA, ESA, and other space agencies/companies