From the Foreword:'John Anderson's book represents a milestone in aviation literature. For the first time aviation enthusiasts - both specialists and popular readers alike - possess an authoritative history of aerodynamic theory. Not only is this study authoritative, it is also highly readable and linked to the actual (and more familiar) story of how the airplane evolved. The book touches on al…
This book is about China’s ambitions in its most complex and internationally visible space endeavor, namely its human space exploration programme. It provides a comprehensive reflection on China´s strategic direction and objectives in space, including in particular those set forth in its human spaceflight programme and analyses the key domestic and external factors affecting the country’s …
The interdisciplinary research and development work carried out in the last ten years which is presented in this book aimed at replacing the conventional airport control tower by a new “remote tower operation” work environment (RTO) which should enhance work efficiency and safety and reduce costs. This revolutionary human–system interface allows for remote aerodrome traffic control withou…
Thirty years ago when Sir Richard Branson called up Boeing and asked if they had a spare 747, few would have predicted the brash entrepreneur would so radically transform the placid business of air travel. But today, Branson flies airlines on six continents, employs hundreds of jets and, in 2014, was predicting that his spaceship company – Virgin Galactic – would soon open the space frontie…
This book presents papers surrounding the extensive discussions that took place from the ‘Variational Analysis and Aerospace Engineering’ workshop held at the Ettore Majorana Foundation and Centre for Scientific Culture in 2015. Contributions to this volume focus on advanced mathematical methods in aerospace engineering and industrial engineering such as computational fluid dynamics metho…
Awarded the 2016 International Academy of Astronautics Life Science Book Award! Using anecdotal reports from astronauts and cosmonauts, and the results from studies conducted in space analog environments on Earth and in the actual space environment, this book broadly reviews the various psychosocial issues that affect space travelers. Unlike other books that are more technical in format, thi…
Thousands of workers labored at Kennedy Space Center around the clock, seven days a week, for half a year to prepare a mission for the liftoff of Apollo 11. This is the story of what went on during those hectic six months. Countdown to a Moon Launch provides an in-depth look at the carefully choreographed workflow for an Apollo mission at KSC. Using the Apollo 11 mission as an example, readers …
This book introduces novel design techniques developed to increase the safety of aircraft engines. The authors demonstrate how the application of uncertainty methods can overcome problems in the accurate prediction of engine lift, caused by manufacturing error. This in turn ameliorates the difficulty of achieving required safety margins imposed by limits in current design and manufacturing meth…
This book introduces the topics most relevant to autonomously flying flapping wing robots: flapping-wing design, aerodynamics, and artificial intelligence. Readers can explore these topics in the context of the "Delfly", a flapping wing robot designed at Delft University in The Netherlands. How are tiny fruit flies able to lift their weight, avoid obstacles and predators, and find food or sh…
This thesis presents fundamental work that explains two mysteries concerning the trajectory of interplanetary spacecraft. For the first problem, the so-called Pioneer anomaly, a wholly new and innovative method was developed for computing all contributions to the acceleration due to onboard thermal sources. Through a careful analysis of all parts of the spacecraft Pioneer 10 and 11, the applica…