Satellite Books

PAS-8 Mongolian C-band DownLink Beam.? PAS-8 East Asia Beam.? Pas-8 Central Asia Beam.?

This book is an excellent reference for SATCOM systems engineers, and for RF, controls and mechanical designers working on earth station antenna systems. I have found no other book that has as much technical depth in the area of antenna positioning systems. Note that this book is not for someone looking for an introduction to satellite communications.

This is a fun book to collect or just read for fun. It was written in 1958, and it is fun to compare what is written to how far we have come in our knowledge of space and our ability to travel in space.

My favorite chapter was, "The Riddle of Mars", which discusses the question of is there life on Mars and if so, what kind of life. It discusses the white polar caps melting and also the changes in seasons similar to that of earth, and Dr. Gerald Kuiper's studies on the "reflections of sunlight from the green areas of Mars and comparing it to the reflection from mountainsides covered with green foliage here on earth." (p. 146)....."from these studies, he has concluded that eh vegetation on Mars consists only of such lowly forms as mosses and lichens." (p. 146)..."Many astronomers feel that Mars is a dying world which has lost most of it's oxygen and water vapor and so is slowly drying up." (p. 147)...."The big questions is whether intelligent beings ever lived on the planet and, if so, whether or not they have survived. It has been suggested that the inhabitants of mars may live in underground cities. These are questions which must wait until a space ship lands on the red planet." (p. 147).

The chapters are:
1. Dawn of the space age
2. the ocean of air
3. the viking rocket
4. from fireworks to satellites
5. project orbiter
6. project vanguard
7. scientific satellites
8. the russian sputnicks
9. the moon messenger
10. space medicine
11. passenger-carrying rockets
12. the space station
13. the lunar space ship
14. exploring the moon
15. the atomic space ship
16. the riddle of mars
17. the solar system
18. into the milky way

The ending words for the final chapter are: "The first artificial satellites were launched in 1957. The Age of Space Travel has only begun." (page 189)

It's a fun book to read, and a lot of the information is still correct, but seen from a 1950's perspective.

Dr. Jeffrey Richelson has been a staple in the field of watching US military space systems. This book, America's Secret Eyes in Space, is one of the best overviews into US reconnaissance/surveillance satellites ever written outside of the doors of the National Reconnaissance Office. Coverage of some systems are out-of-date due to recent declassification, but that does not detract from the overall book - and if you're like me, you'll pencil what Richelson got wrong or double check what he got *right*. This book is also an excellent companion to William Burrows' "Deep Black" - where Mr. Burrows covers system histories and overviews of the "big picture", Richelson gives the nitty-gritty on the satellite, launch vehicle, mission and more.

This book had a limited run on its original printing and is very hard to find at a decent price (I paid $80 for my used copy, and I don't regret a dime of it) - if you can find it for a good price, get it. Copies are few and far between, but reside on the desks and libraries of some individuals who work on these systems. Now what does *that* tell you? ;-)

This vintage issue of the most highly regarded science fiction pulp magazine, edited by John W. Campbell, contains stories by Mack Reynolds, H.B. Fyfe, Pauline Ashwell, Darrel T. Langart, and features by Isaac Asimov and Campbell himself.

This volume provides an excellent advanced introduction to the radio occultation remote sensing technique based on signals from the Global Positioning System (GPS). It consists of papers authored by leaders in their respective fields, and covers many of the atmospheric and ionospheric applications that have been investigated so far. It also covers non-GPS instruments on COSMIC, but this is not my area. The COSMIC constellation of six satellites is planned to launch in 2005.

"Writing for designers and analysts of space missions, systems engineers, and graduate students with a good background in astrodynamics, Chao summarizes in technical and mathematical detail the perturbation theories and station-keeping algorithms for various types of mission orbits and constellations. A major contribution is the analytical representation of the averaged equations of variations of the four types of perturbation sources in terms of classical orbit elements."
--SciTech Book News

Prasad and Ruggieri give us a detailed look at how to use the constellations of navigation satellites for many economically important tasks. Actually, in practice, the greatest usage is of the Global Positioning System (GPS), which is provided by the US government and its Department of Defense. The dominance of GPS in satellite navigation is probably comparable to Microsoft on the computer desktop. To the layman, GPS is synonymous with satellite navigation. Thus, much of the book is devoted to explaining GPS.

But not exclusively. The authors also explain how the European Union is rolling out Galileo. In part to build out its own technological capability in this field, and to not be solely dependent on the US. The text goes into the technical differences between Galileo and GPS. The most important of which is that Galileo is meant to be a strictly civilian system.

Who are the readers of this book? Mostly communications engineers, judging by much of the technical content. Though not exclusively. The later sections of the book have an interesting synopsis of the ways that GPS is used in many industries. Including at the level of a single consumer, for personal navigation. Where the GPS device is quite possibly built into the functionality of a cellphone. Numerous location based services are possible, like emergency caller location. Indeed, increasingly in many countries, new cellphones are mandated to have such abilities.

More GPS uses are continually emerging, and the book gives a good feel for these. If you are contemplating novel uses of GPS, in contexts where knowing locations of objects or people can be important, then the book might furnish ideas. Nor do you need to be an engineer.

Another merit of the text is the lengthy reference sections appending each chapter. Potentially very timesaving if you get seriously interested in using GPS.

This new Fifth Edition of The ARRL Satellite Anthology brings you the best articles on the current (and future!) amateur spacecraft from QST, The AMSAT Journal, the World Wide Web and other sources.
This edition also includes recent satellite columns from RadCom, Radio ZS and Amateur Radio (Australia).

With several new amateur satellites now in orbit, and more in the planning stages, you'll want to "read all about them"-and this book is the best way to do just that.

Chapters cover:

History/ Introduction
Phase 3D and AMSAT-OSCAR 1
Radio Sputnik (RS)
Microsats
University Small Satellite Projects
Mir/Space Shuttle/International Space Station
Future Satellites
"Amateur Satellites" and Other Satellite Columns
Software/Tracking/Suppliers

Whether you're an experienced satellite communicator or you're just getting started, you'll enjoy the wide variety of articles this book provides.

A little over a hundred pages of information will appeal to kids in grades 5-6, offering a fine survey of artificial satellites and their current uses. Color photos pepper a history of satellite discoveries and research uses.