Overview
- Presents the history of the Explorer program of small American scientific satellites
- Outlines Explorer's pioneering studies in a number of scientific disciplines, narrating the story of how these satellites improved our knowledge of near-Earth space, the interrelationship between the Sun and Earth, and astronomy at wavelengths impossible to study from the surface of Earth
- Brings together space science, spacecraft design, the personalities involved, the rockets (Juno, Scout, Delta etc), the infrastructure, the management, and the dissemination process in one comprehensively informative package of Explorer program history
- Compares and contrasts the Explorer program with other contemporaneous programs of scientific satellites
Part of the book series: Springer Praxis Books (PRAXIS)
Part of the book sub series: Space Exploration (SPACEE)
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Table of contents (5 chapters)
Keywords
About this book
Explorers have made some of the fundamental discoveries of the Space Age. Explorer 1 discovered Earth’s radiation belts. Later Explorers surveyed the Sun, the X-ray and ultraviolet universes, black holes, magnetars and gamma ray bursts. An Explorer found the remnant of the Big Bang. One Explorer chased and was the first to intercept a comet.
The program went through a period of few launches during the crisis of funding for space science in the 1980s. However, with the era of ‘faster, cheaper, better,’ the program was reinvented, and new exiting missions began to take shape, like Swift and the asteroid hunter WISE.
Discovering the Cosmos with Small Spacecraft gives an account of each mission and its discoveries. It breaks down the program into its main periods of activity and examines the politics and debate on the role of small spacecraft in space science. It introduces the launchers (Juno, Thor, etc.), the launch centers, the ground centers and key personalities like James Van Allen who helped develop and run the spacecraft’s exciting programs.
Reviews
“Harvey’s book is the story of small spacecraft exploring the edges of near-Earth space; of the space between Earth and Moon. It is a comprehensive history and encyclopedic collection of facts and anecdotes … . What is surprising though, is that by both organic content, as well as excellent writing, the arc of Explorer stories is breathtaking.” (Jon C. Cawley, Quest, Vol. 26 (3), 2019)
“This is a most fascinating book, rich at two levels. It gives a complete rundown of the series of nearly 100 small-sized space missions that constituted — and continue to constitute … . this is a history thatneeded to be told. Harvey does so in a very readable manner, and his book deserves wide popularity with professionals, students, and lay citizens alike.” (Elizabeth Griffin, The Observatory, Vol. 138 (1267), December, 2018)Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Harvey has written three histories of the Chinese space program, with one currently awaiting publication, and has also written histories of the European, Japanese and Indian space programs. He contributed a chapter to Dominic Phelan's Space Sleuths book, and most recently, a chapter on the Cosmos 5 mission was published in the Yuri Galperin 80 years memorial volume by the Academy of Sciences in Moscow.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Discovering the Cosmos with Small Spacecraft
Book Subtitle: The American Explorer Program
Authors: Brian Harvey
Series Title: Springer Praxis Books
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68140-5
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Physics and Astronomy, Physics and Astronomy (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer International Publishing AG 2018
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-68138-2Published: 08 December 2017
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-68140-5Published: 24 November 2017
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XII, 284
Number of Illustrations: 58 b/w illustrations, 73 illustrations in colour
Topics: Space Sciences (including Extraterrestrial Physics, Space Exploration and Astronautics), Popular Science in Astronomy, Aerospace Technology and Astronautics, Planetology, Astrobiology