Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Explorer was the original American space program and Explorer 1 its first satellite, launched in 1958. Sixty years later, it is the longest continuously running space program in the world, demonstrating to the world how we can explore the cosmos with small spacecraft. Almost a hundred Explorers have already been launched.
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.
Synopsis
Explorer 1 was the first American satellite to reach orbit on January 31, 1958. It is famous for salvaging American space pride, which was damaged after the first two Soviet Sputniks orbited Earth. This small satellite also achieved a significant scientific result, as its instruments enabled American space scientist James Van Allen to present the case that Earth was circled by radiation belts.
What is less well known is that the Explorer program in its various forms continues to the present day, making it the longest running program of scientific space exploration in history. At this stage, 92 Explorer-class satellites have been launched, and more are promised for the coming years. They are the principal instrument for American space discovery in near-Earth orbit.
The importance of the humble Explorer program may have been overlooked by more high profile large, scientific missions (e.g., Hubble) and by extraordinary American successes in planetary probes in the Solar System. Few, if any, have chronicled the Explorer series of missions, its scientific results over sixty years, and the value of such small spacecraft as instruments of scientific discovery. Harvey summarizes the personalities key to the ongoing Explorer operations and the achievements of the series as a whole; the difficulties and problems that arose; and how the program evolved over time. The books looks at the principal scientific outcomes, their impact on our knowledge of near-Earth space and the value of small spacecraft as instrument of space exploration.
Synopsis
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