Use of Beowulf clusters (collections of off-the-shelf commodity computers programmed to act in...

The Moon is very far from Earth. Yet, scientists have been able to get satellites, shuttles, and other spacecraft into space and a few manned spacecraft to land on the Moon. "How Does a Spacecraft Reach the Moon?" reveals the science behind propulsion and the energy it takes to get large craft into space. Colorful photographs and...

The promise of MEMS for aerospace applications has been germinating for years, and current advances bring the field to the very cusp of fruition. Reliability is chief among the challenges limiting the deployment of MEMS technologies in space, as the requirement of zero failure during the mission is quite stringent for this burgeoning field....

Hydrodynamics of High-Speed Marine Vehicles discusses hydrodynamic aspects of the three main categories of high-speed marine vehicles, i.e. vessels supported by either the submerged hull, an air cushion or foils. Submerged-hull-supported vessels include planing and semi-displacement vessels. The wave environment, resistance, propulsion,...

In this second edition of Future Spacecraft Propulsion Systems, the authors demonstrate the need to break free from the old established concepts of expendable rockets, using chemical propulsion, and to develop new breeds of launch vehicle capable of both launching payloads into orbit at a dramatically reduced cost and for sustained operations in...