Advanced Space Propulsion Systems | 
 enlarge | Author: Martin Tajmar
Publisher: Springer
Category: Book
List Price: $49.95
Buy New: $37.46
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Avg. Customer Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 161116
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 137
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.5 x 0.2
ISBN: 3211838627
Dewey Decimal Number: 629.475
EAN: 9783211838624
ASIN: 3211838627
Publication Date: August 26, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Condition: NEW BOOK
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Product Description
Space propulsion systems have a great influence on our ability to travel to other planets or how cheap a satellite can provide TV programs. This book provides an up-to-date overview of all kinds of propulsion systems ranging from classical rocket technology, nuclear propulsion to electric propulsion systems, and further to micro-, propellantless and even breakthrough propulsion, which is a new program under development at NASA. The author shows the limitations of the present concepts and how they could look like in the future. Starting from historical developments, the reader is taken on a journey showing the amazing technology that has been put on hold for decades to be rediscovered in the near future for questions like how we can even reach other stars within a human lifetime. The author is actively involved in advanced propulsion research and contributes with his own experience to many of the presented topics. The book is written for anyone who is interested in how space travel can be revolutionized.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Perhaps a useful overview, but riddled with errors September 6, 2005
18 out of 18 found this review helpful
This slim book tries valiantly to summarize the entire range of space launch and in-space propulsion concepts, but does a questionable job of it.
The book has the usual problems of a very compressed summary -- some concepts, and many specific technologies and projects, are left out entirely, and there's no room to do more than briefly describe most of the concepts that are included. The level is variable: parts are apparently aimed at people with at least an undergraduate technical education -- there's lots of algebra, and more than a few differential equations -- yet many concepts are described only in qualitative terms, perhaps with a picture or diagram. Some references are to standard reference works or review articles intended for nonspecialists, while others are to specialized research papers likely to puzzle most readers who want more information -- assuming they can find the cited journals at all.
However, the book's major problem is that it's full of errors -- mostly minor individually, but distressing taken as a whole. I work in this field, and know many of the projects mentioned and researchers cited; without actively looking I noticed eleven errors in 38 pages. These range from a faulty diagram (Fig. 2.7) to a gross overstatement of the funding for one project, to fundamental errors in the descriptions of pulsed detonation engines ("a compression wave travels through the tube at the speed of sound" when in fact a detonation is a faster-than-sound process; a sonic or subsonic process is a deflagration) and pneumatic catapults.
If you want quick layman's introductions to a wide variety of advanced concepts, there are better summaries on line.
 Best book about advanced propulsion concepts ever May 31, 2005
2 out of 6 found this review helpful
This book is the most complete guide I've ever seen. The best part about this book is that anyone can read it and get something from it. Even a PhD in aerospace engineering can use it as a reference.
New ideas in, um, rocket science December 24, 2004
18 out of 19 found this review helpful
I find the subject of this book, advanced space propulsion systems, very interesting. And there's plenty of good material in the book. Still, I wish it had delved into some of the topics in greater detail. And while I tend to try to be as comprehensive as possible when I cover a field, I have to admit that Tajmar covers some topics I would actually have skipped.
The book starts with a quick overview of rocket propulsion, including monopropellant and bipropellant engines. And we soon discover that Tajmar is going to take us from the fundamentals of rocket science into more speculative areas. He briefly discusses "advanced propellants" such as atomic hydrogen, metastable helium, and metallic hydrogen. Let's just say that in spite of (or maybe due to) my familiarity with these ideas, it would not have occurred to me to mention them in a book.
The author then evaluates launch assist technologies. These include aircraft assists, catapults, cannons, gas guns, ram accelerators, and electromagnetic (and magnetohydrodynamic) accelerators. There's even a mention of reducing drag with surface charging.
Next we get to nuclear propulsion. I would have expanded the section on fission propulsion, and thought twice about including the material on fusion propulsion and antimatter propulsion.
I think the best part of the book is the chapter on electric propulsion systems. There's plenty of information, including excellent photographs, of resistojets, arcjets, Hall thrusters, Kaufmann thrusters, Field Emission thrusters, Colloid thrusters, and more. Plus, there is a short section that could have been expanded on the threat of induced interactions between the plasma emitted by the propulsion system and the spacecraft.
Since this book looks to the future, that means a discussion of propulsion systems applicable for use on microspacecraft. Tajmar therefore includes a chapter on micropropulsion.
The next section is very interesting and not wholly speculative: "propellantless propulsion." That means tethers, laser propulsion, solar sails, and magnetic sails. Of these, I think solar sails surely deserved at least a few more pages.
The final chapter is a leap into what I think of as science fiction. That includes what I call "quantum propulsion" (an attempt to modify the vacuum and use the energy generated to propel a spacecraft). And it includes a attempts to couple gravitation and electromagnetism. And my, um, favorite: superconductor gravitational shielding. I might have omitted this chapter.
It's a useful book, but I think it could be improved.
Love this book!!!!!!! October 20, 2003
4 out of 17 found this review helpful
This book has it all. All the todays propulsions systems that you think of.
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