Space Science and Technology

GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM (GPS)

Introduction The Global Positioning System, commonly referred to as GPS, is a worldwide, satellite-based positioning and timing system that allows suitably equipped radio receivers to locate themselves in four dimensions, latitude, longitude, altitude, and time, anywhere there is a reasonably clear view of the sky. The system is also known as NAVSTAR, a convenient nickname […]

HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE

Introduction The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is widely viewed as one of the most important scientific and technological achievements of modern times, comparable in its impact to Galileo’s first use of the telescope for fundamental astronomical research in 1610. Although it is not the first astronomical observatory to exploit the benefits of viewing the Universe […]

HUMAN OPERATIONS IN SPACE DURING THE SPACE SHUTTLE ERA

When the Space Shuttle Columbia was launched on its maiden flight 20 years and more than 100 flights ago, it carried a crew of two, an instrumentation pallet as its only payload, and the key mission objectives were to see if launch and landing could be performed safely. That launch also carried the promise of […]

IMMUNOLOGY AND INFECTION IN SPACE

This article on alterations of immune responses in space travel is intended to provide a review of the background and rationale for the hypothesis that immune function of humans on long-term space flight missions will be sufficiently altered that immune compromise occurs, thus rendering astronauts subject to opportunistic infections, particularly activation of latent viruses and […]

INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION

The establishment of a long-term, low Earth orbiting outpost has long been a goal of space exploration advocates. A variety of orbiting space stations, envisioned by writers, engineers, and scientists for years, have been developed, launched, and deorbited. The Soviet Union and Russia have flown several Salyut stations and only recently terminated operations of the […]

INTERPLANETARY MEDIUM

In the commonness of life on Earth, most would expect that the composition of space beyond our atmosphere might be planets, comets, asteroids, and an occasional meteor. In reality, the space between the planets and other larger objects of our solar system is richly composed of a variety of complex phenomena, which on Earth drive […]

JUPITER

by Timothy E. Dowling Jupiter is a beautiful and inspiring planet and has returned major scientific dividends on every investment in exploring it. This largest planet in the solar system has more mass than all of the other planets combined, raging storms that last for decades and longer, 16 moons, the largest bigger than Mercury, […]

LIQUID-FUELED ROCKETS

Since the beginning of the space age, liquid-fueled rockets have provided the basis of everything we have accomplished in space. Whether it has been the mighty F-1, which powered Apollo to the Moon, or the workhorse RL-10, or the high performance SSME, all of the major missions depend on liquid-fueled propulsion. And as we move […]

MARS

The fourth planet from the Sun, Mars is the first planet in the solar system beyond Earth. Compared with Earth, Mars is a small planet. With a value of 1.00 for Earth, the mass of Mars is 0.107; the density, 0.719; volume, 0.149. The equatorial diameter of Mars is 4,226 miles (6,772 kilometers) as compared […]

MERCURY

Introduction Mercury, our solar system’s innermost planet, is shrouded in mystery, despite the fact that it is Earth’s third closest planetary neighbor and is one of the five planets known to the ancients. It is fairly easy to see. It appears to an Earth-based observer at approximately 2-month intervals as a bright object visible to […]

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