Robotic Exploration of the Solar System: Part 1: The Golden Age 1957–1982

Paolo Ulivi and David Harland provide in Robotic Exploration of the Solar System a detailed history of unmanned missions of exploration of our Solar System. As in their previous book Lunar Exploration, the subject will be treated wherever possible from an engineering and scientific standpoint. Technical descriptions of the spacecraft, of their mission designs and of instrumentations will be provided. Scientific results will be discussed in considerable depth, together with details of mission management. The book will be comprehensive, covering missions and results from the 1950s until the present day, and some of the latest missions and their results will appear in a popular science book for the first time. The authors will also cover many unflown missions, providing an indication of the ideas that proved to be unfulfilled at the time but which may still be proven and useful in the future. The project will deliver three volumes totaling over 1000 pages, providing comprehensive coverage of the topic. Paolo Ulivi and David Harland provide in Robotic Exploration of the Solar System a detailed history of unmanned missions of exploration of our Solar System. As in their previous book Lunar Exploration, the subject will be treated wherever possible from an engineering and scientific standpoint. Technical descriptions of the spacecraft, of their mission designs and of instrumentations will be provided. Scientific results will be discussed in considerable depth, together with details of mission management. The book will be comprehensive, covering missions and results from the 1950s until the present day, and some of the latest missions and their results will appear in a popular science book for the first time. The authors will also cover many unflown missions, providing an indication of the ideas that proved to be unfulfilled at the time but which may still be proven and useful in the future. Just like Lunar Exploration, this book will use sources only recently made available on the Soviet space program, in addition to some obscure and rarely used references on the European space program. Unflown European projects of the 1960s and 1970s, a subject never before treated, will also be covered. Pt. 3. Wows and woes, 1997-2003. In Robotic Exploration of the Solar System, Paolo Ulivi and David Harland provide a comprehensive account of the design and managment of deep-space missions, the spacecraft involved - some flown, others not - their instruments, and their scientific results. This third volume in the series covers launches in the period 1997 to 2003 and features: a chapter entirely devoted to the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn; coverage of planetary missions of the period, including the Deep Space 1 mission and the Stardust and Hayabusa sample returns from comets and asteroids; extensive coverage of Mars exploration, the failed 1999 missions, Mars Odyssey, Mars Express, and the twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity. The story will continue in Part 4 The 4-volume series provides comprehensive coverage with thousands of references to the professional literature Emphasizes the technology of space probes -- Comprehensive coverage ranges from the earliest planetary probes to the most recent planetary flights and missions -- Provides multilingual references (including Chinese, Russian, Czech, French, Italian) -- Details many unflown and unfulfilled missions -- Describes the technical rivalry between the US and Soviet Union in the development of launches. In Robotic Exploration of the Solar System, Paolo Ulivi and David Harland provide a comprehensive account of the design and managment of deep-space missions, the spacecraft involved - some flown, others not - their instruments, and their scientific results Pt. 1. The golden age, 1957-1982. This fascinating book is a must-have text for space enthusiasts with an engineering bent. It is a detailed history of unmanned missions that have explored our solar system. The subject is treated wherever possible from an engineering and scientific standpoint and includes technical descriptions of the spacecraft, their mission designs and their instrumentations. Scientific results are discussed in depth, together with details of mission management. The book is fantastically comprehensive, covering missions and results from the 1950s right up to the present day. Some of the latest missions and their results appear in a popular science book for the first time Pt. 2. Hiatus and renewal, 1983-1996. "In this thick, heavy tome, Mr. Harland and co-author Paolo Ulivi turn their exceptional narrative skills, technical knowledge and attention to detail to the story of American, Soviet and European unmanned planetary missions ... the presentation of the material is outstanding. ... I never found this volume to be at all boring. About 250 illustrations perfectly complement the text ... and all of them clearly and usefully captioned. If you want to know something about unmanned planetary exploration, this is the book for you." (Terry Sunday, Amazon, August, 2011) Pt. 4. The modern era, 2004-2013. Coverage of the Rosetta and Curiosity missions ; coverage of Mars missions including Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Phoenix and Fobos-Grunt ; coverage of planetary missions including the Deep Impactcometary mission, the Messenger Mercury orbiter, the New Horizons Pluto flyby and the Juno Jupiter orbitor; a complete description of the Chinese Chang'e 2 asteroid flyby mission ; coverage of future missions including the European BepiColombo Mercury orbiter and international plans to revisit moons of Jupiter and Saturn Presents a history of unmanned missions of exploration of our Solar System. This book provides technical descriptions of the spacecraft, of their mission designs and of instrumentations. It discusses scientific results together with details of mission management. It covers missions from the 1950s and some of the other missions and their results Front Matter....Pages i-lx The beginning....Pages 1-95 Of landers and orbiters....Pages 97-299 The grandest tour....Pages 301-456 Back Matter....Pages 457-534