Download or read book Asteroid Rendezvous written by Jim Bell and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2002-08 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An account of NASA's dramatic NEAR mission to the asteroid Eros by scientists involved.
Download or read book The Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous Mission written by C.T. Russell and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Even before the present Administrator of NASA, Daniel Goldin, made the phrase 'better, faster, cheaper' the slogan of at least the Office of Space Science, that same office under the Associate Administrator of Lennard Fisk and its Division of Solar System Exploration under the direction of Wes Huntress had begun a series of planetary spacecraft whose developmental cost, phase CID in the parlance of the trade, was to be held to under $150M. In order to get the program underway rapidly they chose two missions without the open solicitation now the hallmark of the program. One of these two missions, JPL' s Mars Pathfinder, was to be a technology demonstration mission with little immediate science return that would enable later high priority science missions to Mars. Many of the science investigations that were included had significant foreign contributions to keep NASA's cost of the mission within the Discovery budget. The second of these missions and the first to be launched was the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous mission, or NEAR, awarded to Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory. This mission was quite different than Mars Pathfinder, being taken from the list of high priority objectives of the science community and emphasizing the science return and not the technology development of the mission. This mission was also to prove to be well under the $150M phase CID cap.
Download or read book Near Earth Objects written by Donald K. Yeomans and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2016-11-08 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An insider's look at the science of near-Earth comets and asteroids Of all the natural disasters that could befall us, only an Earth impact by a large comet or asteroid has the potential to end civilization in a single blow. Yet these near-Earth objects also offer tantalizing clues to our solar system's origins, and someday could even serve as stepping-stones for space exploration. In this book, Donald Yeomans introduces readers to the science of near-Earth objects—its history, applications, and ongoing quest to find near-Earth objects before they find us. In its course around the sun, the Earth passes through a veritable shooting gallery of millions of nearby comets and asteroids. One such asteroid is thought to have plunged into our planet sixty-five million years ago, triggering a global catastrophe that killed off the dinosaurs. Yeomans provides an up-to-date and accessible guide for understanding the threats posed by near-Earth objects, and also explains how early collisions with them delivered the ingredients that made life on Earth possible. He shows how later impacts spurred evolution, allowing only the most adaptable species to thrive—in fact, we humans may owe our very existence to objects that struck our planet. Yeomans takes readers behind the scenes of today’s efforts to find, track, and study near-Earth objects. He shows how the same comets and asteroids most likely to collide with us could also be mined for precious natural resources like water and oxygen, and used as watering holes and fueling stations for expeditions to Mars and the outermost reaches of our solar system.
Download or read book Low cost Innovation in Spaceflight written by Howard E. McCurdy and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 92 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Defending Planet Earth written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2010-07-21 with total page 152 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The United States spends approximately $4 million each year searching for near-Earth objects (NEOs). The objective is to detect those that may collide with Earth. The majority of this funding supports the operation of several observatories that scan the sky searching for NEOs. This, however, is insufficient in detecting the majority of NEOs that may present a tangible threat to humanity. A significantly smaller amount of funding supports ways to protect the Earth from such a potential collision or "mitigation." In 2005, a Congressional mandate called for NASA to detect 90 percent of NEOs with diameters of 140 meters of greater by 2020. Defending Planet Earth: Near-Earth Object Surveys and Hazard Mitigation Strategies identifies the need for detection of objects as small as 30 to 50 meters as these can be highly destructive. The book explores four main types of mitigation including civil defense, "slow push" or "pull" methods, kinetic impactors and nuclear explosions. It also asserts that responding effectively to hazards posed by NEOs requires national and international cooperation. Defending Planet Earth: Near-Earth Object Surveys and Hazard Mitigation Strategies is a useful guide for scientists, astronomers, policy makers and engineers.
Download or read book Asteroids III written by William Frederick Bottke and published by University of Arizona Press. This book was released on 2002-01-01 with total page 818 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Two hundred years after the first asteroid was discovered, asteroids can no longer be considered mere points of light in the sky. Spacecraft missions, advanced Earth-based observation techniques, and state-of-the-art numerical models are continually revealing the detailed shapes, structures, geological properties, and orbital characteristics of these smaller denizens of our solar system. This volume brings together the latest information obtained by spacecraft combined with astronomical observations and theoretical modeling, to present our best current understanding of asteroids and the clues they reveal for the origin an,d evolution of the solar system. This collective knowledge, prepared by a team of more than one hundred international authorities on asteroids, includes new insights into asteroid-meteorite connections, possible relationships with comets, and the hazards posed by asteroids colliding with Earth. The book's contents include reports on surveys based on remote observation and summaries of physical properties; results of in situ exploration; studies of dynamical, collisional, cosmochemical, and weathering evolutionary processes; and discussions of asteroid families and the relationships between asteroids and other solar system bodies. Two previous Space Science Series volumes have established standards for research into asteroids. Asteroids III carries that tradition forward in a book that will stand as the definitive source on its subject for the next decade.
Download or read book Hazards Due to Comets and Asteroids written by Tom Gehrels and published by University of Arizona Press. This book was released on 1994 with total page 1340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1993, the U.S. Department of Defense declassified information dealing with frequent explosions in the upper atmosphere caused by meteoric impact. It is estimated that impacts have occurred of a magnitude equivalent to the atomic bomb detonated at Hiroshima. Not all such space voyagers meet their end in the atmosphere, however; huge craters attest to the bombardment of earth over millions of years, and a major impact may have resulted in the extinction of dinosaurs. An impact in Siberia near the beginning of this century proves that such events are not confined to geologic time. Hazards Due to Comets and Asteroids marks a significant step in the attempt to come to grips with the threats posed by such phenomena. It brings together more than one hundred scientists from around the world, who draw on observational and theoretical research to focus on the technical problems related to all aspects of dealing with these hazards: searching for and identifying hazardous comets and asteroids; describing their statistics and characteristics; intercepting and altering the orbits of dangerous objects; and applying existent technologies—rocket boosters, rendezvous and soft-landing techniques, instrumentation—to such missions. The book considers defensive options for diverting or disrupting an approaching body, including solar sails, kinetic-energy impacts, nuclear explosives, robotic mass drivers, and various propulsion systems. A cataclysmic impact posing a threat to life on Earth is a possibility that tomorrow's technology is capable of averting. This book examines in depth the reality of the threat and proposes practical measures that can be initiated now should we ever need to deal with it.
Download or read book Impact written by Gerrit L. Verschuur and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1997-12-18 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most scientists now agree that some sixty-five million years ago, an immense comet slammed into the Yucatan, detonating a blast twenty million times more powerful than the largest hydrogen bomb, punching a hole ten miles deep in the earth. Trillions of tons of rock were vaporized and launched into the atmosphere. For a thousand miles in all directions, vegetation burst into flames. There were tremendous blast waves, searing winds, showers of molten matter from the sky, earthquakes, and a terrible darkness that cut out sunlight for a year, enveloping the planet in freezing cold. Thousands of species of plants and animals were obliterated, including the dinosaurs, some of which may have become extinct in a matter of hours. In Impact, Gerrit L. Verschuur offers an eye-opening look at such catastrophic collisions with our planet. Perhaps more important, he paints an unsettling portrait of the possibility of new collisions with earth, exploring potential threats to our planet and describing what scientists are doing right now to prepare for this awful possibility. Every day something from space hits our planet, Verschuur reveals. In fact, about 10,000 tons of space debris fall to earth every year, mostly in meteoric form. The author recounts spectacular recent sightings, such as over Allende, Mexico, in 1969, when a fireball showered the region with four tons of fragments, and the twenty-six pound meteor that went through the trunk of a red Chevy Malibu in Peekskill, New York, in 1992 (the meteor was subsequently sold for $69,000 and the car itself fetched $10,000). But meteors are not the greatest threat to life on earth, the author points out. The major threats are asteroids and comets. The reader discovers that astronomers have located some 350 NEAs ("Near Earth Asteroids"), objects whose orbits cross the orbit of the earth, the largest of which are 1627 Ivar (6 kilometers wide) and 1580 Betula (8 kilometers). Indeed, we learn that in 1989, a bus-sized asteroid called Asclepius missed our planet by 650,000 kilometers (a mere six hours), and that in 1994 a sixty-foot object passed within 180,000 kilometers, half the distance to the moon. Comets, of course, are even more deadly. Verschuur provides a gripping description of the small comet that exploded in the atmosphere above the Tunguska River valley in Siberia, in 1908, in a blinding flash visible for several thousand miles (every tree within sixty miles of ground zero was flattened). He discusses Comet Swift-Tuttle--"the most dangerous object in the solar system"--a comet far larger than the one that killed off the dinosaurs, due to pass through earth's orbit in the year 2126. And he recounts the collision of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter in 1994, as some twenty cometary fragments struck the giant planet over the course of several days, casting titanic plumes out into space (when Fragment G hit, it outshone the planet on the infrared band, and left a dark area at the impact site larger than the Great Red Spot). In addition, the author describes the efforts of Spacewatch and other groups to locate NEAs, and evaluates the idea that comet and asteroid impacts have been an underrated factor in the evolution of life on earth. Astronomer Herbert Howe observed in 1897: "While there are not definite data to reason from, it is believed that an encounter with the nucleus of one of the largest comets is not to be desired." As Verschuur shows in Impact, we now have substantial data with which to support Howe's tongue-in-cheek remark. Whether discussing monumental tsunamis or the innumerable comets in the Solar System, this book will enthrall anyone curious about outer space, remarkable natural phenomenon, or the future of the planet earth.
Download or read book Physical Studies of Minor Planets written by Tom Gehrels and published by . This book was released on 1972 with total page 732 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: " ... Some papers and discussions included in this book even though they were not presented at the meeting. In some respects, therefore, the book is independent of the colloquium. Several papers had been invited long beforehand with the request to publish them as review papers. The lack of a modern textbook on minor planets is keenly felt, and the proceedings of this meeting, with these additions, should provide a good reference book."--Page viii
Download or read book NASA Historical Data Book V 7 written by and published by Government Printing Office. This book was released on 1976 with total page 1084 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume of the NASA Historical Data Book is the seventh in the series that describes NASA’s programs and projects. Covering the years 1989 through 1998, it includes the areas of launch systems, human spaceflight, and space science, continuing the volumes that addressed these topics during NASA’s previous decades. Each chapter presents information, much of it statistical, addressing funding, management, and details of programs and missions.
Download or read book Water pollution Proceedings Of The International Seminar On Nuclear War And Planetary Emergencies 25th Session written by Richard C Ragaini and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2001-07-19 with total page 703 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Full Title: Water — Pollution, Biotechnology — Transgenic Plant Vaccine, Energy, Black Sea Pollution, AIDS — Mother-Infant HIV Transmission, Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy, Limits of Development — Megacities, Missile Proliferation and Defense — Information Security, Cosmic Objects, Desertification, Carbon Sequestration and Sustainability, Climatic Changes, Global Monitoring of Planet, Mathematics and Democracy, Science and Journalism, Permanent Monitoring Panel Reports, Water for Megacities Workshop, Black Sea Workshop, Transgenic Plants Workshop, Research Resources Workshop, Mother-Infant HIV Transmission Workshop, Sequestration and Desertification Workshop, Focus Africa Workshop
Download or read book International Seminar on Nuclear War and Planetary Emergencies written by Antonino Zichichi and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2001 with total page 703 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Full Title: Water ? Pollution, Biotechnology ? Transgenic Plant Vaccine, Energy, Black Sea Pollution, AIDS ? Mother-Infant HIV Transmission, Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy, Limits of Development ? Megacities, Missile Proliferation and Defense ? Information Security, Cosmic Objects, Desertification, Carbon Sequestration and Sustainability, Climatic Changes, Global Monitoring of Planet, Mathematics and Democracy, Science and Journalism, Permanent Monitoring Panel Reports, Water for Megacities Workshop, Black Sea Workshop, Transgenic Plants Workshop, Research Resources Workshop, Mother-Infant HIV Transmission Workshop, Sequestration and Desertification Workshop, Focus Africa Workshop
Download or read book Faster Better Cheaper written by Howard E. McCurdy and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2001-12-26 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: McCurdy examines NASA's recent efforts to save money while improving mission frequency and performance.".
Download or read book Hazards Due to Comets and Asteroids written by Tom Gehrels and published by University of Arizona Press. This book was released on 2021-11-30 with total page 1317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1993, the U.S. Department of Defense declassified information dealing with frequent explosions in the upper atmosphere caused by meteoric impact. It is estimated that impacts have occurred of a magnitude equivalent to the atomic bomb detonated at Hiroshima. Not all such space voyagers meet their end in the atmosphere, however; huge craters attest to the bombardment of earth over millions of years, and a major impact may have resulted in the extinction of dinosaurs. An impact in Siberia near the beginning of this century proves that such events are not confined to geologic time. Hazards Due to Comets and Asteroids marks a significant step in the attempt to come to grips with the threats posed by such phenomena. It brings together more than one hundred scientists from around the world, who draw on observational and theoretical research to focus on the technical problems related to all aspects of dealing with these hazards: searching for and identifying hazardous comets and asteroids; describing their statistics and characteristics; intercepting and altering the orbits of dangerous objects; and applying existent technologies—rocket boosters, rendezvous and soft-landing techniques, instrumentation—to such missions. The book considers defensive options for diverting or disrupting an approaching body, including solar sails, kinetic-energy impacts, nuclear explosives, robotic mass drivers, and various propulsion systems. A cataclysmic impact posing a threat to life on Earth is a possibility that tomorrow's technology is capable of averting. This book examines in depth the reality of the threat and proposes practical measures that can be initiated now should we ever need to deal with it.
Download or read book The Complete Book of Spaceflight written by David Darling and published by Turner Publishing Company. This book was released on 2008-04-21 with total page 842 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A commanding encyclopedia of the history and principles of spaceflight-from earliest conceptions to faster-than-light galaxy-hopping Here is the first truly comprehensive guide to space exploration and propulsion, from the first musings of the Greeks to current scientific speculation about interstellar travel using "warp drives" and wormholes. Space buffs will delight in its in-depth coverage of all key manned and unmanned missions and space vehicles-past, present, and projected-and its clear explanations of the technologies involved. Over the course of more than 2,000 extensively cross-referenced entries, astronomer David Darling also provides fascinating insights into the cultural development of spaceflight. In vivid accounts of the major characters and historical events involved, he provides fascinating tales of early innovators, the cross-pollination that has long existed between science fiction and science fact, and the sometimes obscure links between geopolitics, warfare, and advances in rocketry.
Download or read book Unmanned Space Missions written by Britannica Educational Publishing and published by Britannica Educational Publishing. This book was released on 2009-10-01 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Satellites and robotic spacecraft have long travelled where humankind cannot, or dare not, go. By delving into the pages of this book, readers will learn about the technology, people, and organizations that have made fruitful unmanned space missions a reality.
Download or read book Near Earth Objects NEOS written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Science and Technology (2007). Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
