For centuries, astronomers have placed a special interest on the other planets of the solar system. But with the advent of spacecraft and the tremendous missions undertaken by the Voyager and Cassini probes, astronomers have discovered that the natural satellites of the planets—the solar system's moons—are some of the most extraordinary places imaginable. There are moons with towering geysers, erupting volcanoes, and subterranean oceans of warm, mineral-rich water. Some of the highest mountains and deepest canyons can be found on the moons. There are moons that have shattered into pieces and then reassembled. There is even a moon where it rains rocket fuel. Recently, scientists have turned to the moons for answers in their investigations of the origins of the solar system and the evolution of life on our own planet. Featuring full-color, scientifically accurate illustrations by NASA artist Ron Miller, Natural Satellites: The Book of Moons chronicles these investigations and the questions we have yet to answer in our exploration of the solar system's moons.

Learn about satellites that affect us every day, how they work, and how we can place and keep them on orbit. Satellite Basics for Everyone presents an introduction and overview to satellites. Its written as clearly and understandably as possible for a wide audience. It provides a learning tool for grade school students. High school and college students can use it for helping them decide on career fields. Its for people with curious minds who want to know about satellites that affect their daily lives. And, it provides a training tool and an overview for people who build, operate, and use data collected by satellites. Satellite Basics for Everyone describes satellite missions, orbits, population, closeness, debris, collision risk, builders, owners, operators, launch vehicles, and costs. Focus then turns to describing the orbit, components, environment, and operation of the geostationary communications satellite because it affects our daily lives the most by providing television, radio, commercial business, Internet and telephone services. A description of satellite motion prepares for the included Mission Planning Example of how to place and keep this satellite on orbit and keep the antennas pointing in the right direction to perform its mission. The main objective of this book is to stimulate a broad interest in engineering and science.

"Satellites: Photographs from the Fringes of the Former Soviet Union is the culmination of Jonas Bendiksen's fascinating seven-year photographic journey through the outlying republics held in orbit by the immense gravity of the Soviet Empire. When it dissolved, in 1991, these satellite states were sent into free space--and uncertain futures. Bendiksen explored six gray areas in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and far eastern Siberia. Many of these outposts are ostensibly state-less states, places where Soviet nostalgia looms large, self-styled brands of capitalism have emerged, where cities are scarred from bloody insurrections, and entire populations have fled in search of better lives. Hauntingly beautiful, these sixty-two arresting color photographs unsentimentally reveal the often grim circumstances in these half-forgotten regions that are uniformly poor and polluted--and often politically unstable. We may not hear much about them today, but we will certainly hear more from them in the near future as the fall of the Iron Curtain continues to reverberate throughout the region. This book was produced to accompany a traveling exhibition, which opened at the Jewish Historical Museum, Amsterdam."--Publisher's website.

"Taut and elegant, carefully introspected and thoughtfully explored."—The New York Times From Hugo award-winning author Sarah Pinsker comes a novel about one family and the technology that divides them. Everybody's getting one. Val and Julie just want what’s best for their kids, David and Sophie. So when teenage son David comes home one day asking for a Pilot, a new brain implant to help with school, they reluctantly agree. This is the future, after all. Soon, Julie feels mounting pressure at work to get a Pilot to keep pace with her colleagues, leaving Val and Sophie part of the shrinking minority of people without the device. Before long, the implications are clear, for the family and society: get a Pilot or get left behind. With government subsidies and no downside, why would anyone refuse? And how do you stop a technology once it's everywhere? Those are the questions Sophie and her anti-Pilot movement rise up to answer, even if it puts them up against the Pilot's powerful manufacturer and pits Sophie against the people she loves most.

Right now, above our heads—nearly imperceptible to us but hugely important to how we live—are thousands of man-made objects that we have sent into space. Ubiquitous but mysterious, satellites are the technological infrastructure of our globally connected world, helping us do everything from orient ourselves on a map to watch our favorite television shows. Yet we rarely ever think about them. In this book, Doug Millard pays overdue tribute to the stoic existence of the satellite, tracing its simultaneous pathways through the cold silence of space and the noisy turbulence of the past century. How satellites ever came to be is, in itself, a remarkable story. Telling an astonishing history of engineering experimentation and ingenuity, Millard shows how the Cold War space race made the earliest satellites—ones like Sputnik, Telstar, and Early Bird—household names. He describes how they evolved into cultural signifiers that represented not only our scientific capabilities but our capacity for imagination, our ability to broaden the scope of our vision to the farthest reaches. From there he follows the proliferation of satellites in the second half of the twentieth century, examining their many different forms, how they evolved, all the things they do, what they have enabled, and how they have influenced our popular culture. Ultimately, Millard asks what we can still expect, what sort of space age the satellite has initiated that is yet to be fully realized. Published in association with the Science Museum, London, this beautifully illustrated book will appeal to any fan of space exploration and technology.

You are not the centre of the universe. When we’re so focused on our own lives and concerns, it’s easy to forget that the world doesn’t revolve around us. This book unpacks seven core values of the Christian life – with God at the centre – exploring whether this in fact is a much more fulfilling way to live. Offering a new vision of the Christian faith for today’s generation, this lively, engaging look at discipleship is full of warmth and practical advice, making it the perfect introduction for young people looking to follow Jesus.

Every amateur astronomer - and many non-astronomers - will be familiar with seeing a "star" that shows that characteristic steady slide across the starry background of the sky. Artificial satellites can be seen any night, and some as bright as the planets. But how many of us can identify which satellites or spent launch vehicle casing we are seeing? Artificial Satellites and How to Observe Them describes all the different satellites that can be observed without optical aid, including of course the International Space Station and the many spy satellites operated by different nations. Richard Schmude looks at them in detail and describes how they can be observed by amateurs, how to recognize them, and even how to predict their orbits. Artificial satellites have changed since the beginning of the millenium. Several additional countries have launched them. And amateur astronomers have utilized digital cameras in order to image satellites to a resolution of about three feet. This book describes how to recognize, observe, and image satellites. Examples of recent images and how they were made are given. It also offers up-to-date descriptions of the many satellites that are orbiting the Earth and other celestial bodies. Readers can learn how satellites impact our day-to-day lives. In short, Artificial Satellites and How to Observe Them is a detailed and up-to-date overview of artificial satellites and how to study them in the night sky.

Consisting of selected technical contributions to the European Project COST252 (Evolution of Satellite Personal Communications from 2nd to Future Generation Systems) this volume provides many innovative results which can be the basis for new global (mobile /terrestrial/satellite) telecommunications systems providing multimedia services at high rates. The latest research results and new perspectives on communications problems are presented in areas such as: - Satellite systems; - Management signalling and resource allocation; - CDMA system and receivers; - Protocols; - Coding; - Satellite-ATM and Satellite-UMTS. The book deals with the satellite components for the third-generation mobile UMTS/IMT-2000 Systems. The satellite component (both geostationary and non-geostationary constellations of satellites) of the future systems offers in particular an effective mean for providing advanced mobile wideband multimedia services to users the world-wide at rates up to 2Mb/s. Satellite Personal Communications for Future-generation Systems will be of particular interest for both researchers and telecommunications professionals.

This book was compiled from contributions given at the 7th IAA Symposium on Small Satellites for Earth Observation, May 4–8, 2009, Berlin (IAA – International Academy of Astronautics). From the 15 sessions for oral presentations and two poster sessions, 52 contributions were selected which are representative for the new developments and trends in the area of small satellites for Earth observation. They re ect the potentials of a diversity of missions and related technologies. This may be based on national projects or international co-operations, single satellites of constellations, pico-, nano-, micro- or mini-satellites, developed by companies, research institutions or agencies. The main focus is on new missions to monitor our Earth’s resources (Part I), and the environment in which our Earth is emb- ded (Part II). Part III deals with distributed space systems, a unique feature of small satellites and in most cases impractical to do with large satellites. Here we concentrate on constellations of satellites with focus on future missions relying on co-operating satellites. For all the new developments and projects we need well e- cated specialists coming from the universities. Many universities included already the development and implementation of small satellites in their curriculum. The u- versity satellites chapter (Part IV) shows the high quality which is already reached by some of the universities worldwide.

This book presents the principal structure of space systems, functionality, media and applications for modern remote sensing, transmission systems, meteorological antennas, propagation meteorological observation and transferring weather data from satellite to the ground infrastructures and users. The book starts with a short background to the development of Radio and Space systems including overview, concepts and applications of satellite communications in function of transfer meteorological observation data and images. It goes on to discuss the fundamental principles of the space platforms and orbital parameters, lows of satellite motions, new types of launching systems, satellite orbits and geometric relations, spacecraft configuration, payload structure, type of onboard antenna systems, satellite orbits and components of satellite bus. The author also provides comprehensive coverage of baseband and transmission systems, fundamentals of atmospheric electromagnetic radiation, satellite meteorological parameters and instruments, and research and applications in antenna systems and propagation. This is a companion book of Global Satellite Meteorological Observation Applications (Springer).