Dr Space Junk vs The Universe

Author: Alice Gorman
Publisher: NewSouth
ISBN: 1742244491
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 277

Book Description
Going boldly forth as a pioneer in the fledgling field of space archaeology, Dr Alice Gorman (aka Dr Space Junk) turns the common perception of archaeology as an exploration of the ancient on its head. Her captivating inquiry into the most modern and daring of technologies spanning some 60 years — a mere speck in cosmic terms — takes the reader on a journey which captures the relics of space forays and uncovers the cultural value of detritus all too readily dismissed as junk. In this book, she takes a physical journey through the solar system and beyond, and a conceptual journey into human interactions with space. Her tools are artefacts, historical explorations, the occasional cocktail recipe, and the archaeologist’s eye applied not only to the past, but the present and future as well. Erudite and playful, Dr Space Junk reveals that space is not as empty as we might think. And that by looking up and studying space artefacts, we learn an awful lot about our own culture on earth. She makes us realise that objects from the past — the material culture produced by the Space Age and beyond — are so significant to us now because they remind us of what we might want to hold onto into the future. ‘As charming as it is expert, as gripping as it is surprising, Dr Space Junk vs The Universe deftly threads together the cosmic and the personal, the stupendousness of space with the lived experience of human beings down here.’ — Adam Roberts, author of Gradisil

Dr Space Junk vs The Universe

Author: Alice Gorman
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262043432
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 306

Book Description
A pioneering space archaeologist explores artifacts left behind in space and on Earth, from moon dust to Elon Musk's red sports car. Alice Gorman is a space archaeologist: she examines the artifacts of human encounters with space. These objects, left behind on Earth and in space, can be massive (dead satellites in eternal orbit) or tiny (discarded zip ties around a defunct space antenna). They can be bold (an American flag on the moon) or hopeful (messages from Earth sent into deep space). They raise interesting questions: Why did Elon Musk feel compelled to send a red Tesla into space? What accounts for the multiple rocket-themed playgrounds constructed after the Russians launched Sputnik? Gorman—affectionately known as “Dr Space Junk” —takes readers on a journey through the solar system and beyond, deploying space artifacts, historical explorations, and even the occasional cocktail recipe in search of the ways that we make space meaningful. Engaging and erudite, Gorman recounts her background as a (nonspace) archaeologist and how she became interested in space artifacts. She shows us her own piece of space junk: a fragment of the fuel tank insulation from Skylab, the NASA spacecraft that crash-landed in Western Australia in 1979. She explains that the conventional view of the space race as “the triumph of the white, male American astronaut” seems inadequate; what really interests her, she says, is how everyday people engage with space. To an archaeologist, objects from the past are significant because they remind us of what we might want to hold on to in the future.

Extraterrestrial Languages

Author: Daniel Oberhaus
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 026254864X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 265

Book Description
If we send a message into space, will extraterrestrial beings receive it? Will they understand? The endlessly fascinating question of whether we are alone in the universe has always been accompanied by another, more complicated one: if there is extraterrestrial life, how would we communicate with it? In this book, Daniel Oberhaus leads readers on a quest for extraterrestrial communication. Exploring Earthlings' various attempts to reach out to non-Earthlings over the centuries, he poses some not entirely answerable questions: If we send a message into space, will extraterrestrial beings receive it? Will they understand? What languages will they (and we) speak? Is there not only a universal grammar (as Noam Chomsky has posited), but also a grammar of the universe? Oberhaus describes, among other things, a late-nineteenth-century idea to communicate with Martians via Morse code and mirrors; the emergence in the twentieth century of SETI (the search for extraterrestrial intelligence), CETI (communication with extraterrestrial intelligence), and finally METI (messaging extraterrestrial intelligence); the one-way space voyage of Ella, an artificial intelligence agent that can play cards, tell fortunes, and recite poetry; and the launching of a theremin concert for aliens. He considers media used in attempts at extraterrestrial communication, from microwave systems to plaques on spacecrafts to formal logic, and discusses attempts to formulate a language for our message, including the Astraglossa and two generations of Lincos (lingua cosmica). The chosen medium for interstellar communication reveals much about the technological sophistication of the civilization that sends it, Oberhaus observes, but even more interesting is the information embedded in the message itself. In Extraterrestrial Languages, he considers how philosophy, linguistics, mathematics, science, and art have informed the design or limited the effectiveness of our interstellar messaging.

Dr Space Junk vs The Universe

Author: Alice Gorman
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262539659
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 306

The Astronaut's Cookbook

Author: Charles T. Bourland
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 144190624X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 224

Book Description
Astronauts, cosmonauts, and a very limited number of people have experienced eating space food due to the unique processing and packaging required for space travel. This book allows anyone with a normal kitchen to prepare space food. Since some of the processing such as freeze dehydration, and packaging cannot be accomplished in the normal kitchen, many of the recipes will not produce the food that would be launched in space, but will prepare food similar to what the astronauts would eat after they had added the water to the food in space. Many of the space foods are prepared to the point of ready to eat, and then frozen and freeze dried. Food preparation in this book stops at the point of ready to eat before the freezing and dehydrating takes place. Recipes in this book are extracted from the NASA food specifications and modified for preparation in a normal kitchen. The book will contain the following chapters: Introduction, Appetizers, Beverages, Bread and Tortillas, Cookies, Sandwiches, Desserts, Main Dishes, Soups and Salads, Vegetables, and Future Space Foods. Interesting tidbits of space food history will be spread throughout the book. Examples like; did NASA invent Tang?, who was the first person to eat in space?, the Gemini sandwich fiasco, why there is no alcohol in U.S. space food systems, astronauts favorite food, etc.

The Transformation of Intergovernmental Satellite Organisations

Author: Patricia McCormick
Publisher: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers
ISBN: 9004257071
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 313

Book Description
The Transformation of Intergovernmental Satellite Organisations: Policy and Legal Perspectives offers a multifaceted analysis of the complex policy and legal issues associated with the privatisation or restructuring of the world’s preeminent intergovernmental satellite organisations, INTELSAT, INMARSAT and EUTELSAT. Maury Mechanick, Christian Roisse, and David Sagar, each of whom were directly involved in these undertakings, provide a unique perspective on the critical issues involved, while Frans von der Dunk and Patricia McCormick offer a broader contextual assessment of their significance. The contributors’ insights regarding the restructuring of these satellite organisations and the intergovernmental organisations which oversee public services represent valuable reflections on those developments, as well as on changes occurring following privatisation regarding those entities’ ownership profiles and service provisions.

Basic Training in Mathematics

Author: R. Shankar
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1489967982
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 371

Book Description
Based on course material used by the author at Yale University, this practical text addresses the widening gap found between the mathematics required for upper-level courses in the physical sciences and the knowledge of incoming students. This superb book offers students an excellent opportunity to strengthen their mathematical skills by solving various problems in differential calculus. By covering material in its simplest form, students can look forward to a smooth entry into any course in the physical sciences.

Karl, the Universe and Everything

Author: Dr Karl Kruszelnicki
Publisher: Macmillan Publishers Aus.
ISBN: 1760557579
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 322

Book Description
Grab your towel and hitchhike across the galaxy with Australia's most popular scientist Dr Karl Kruszelnicki. Learn about Dr Karl, the universe and everything, and discover how air-conditioning is sexist, how you can kill a spinning hard drive by shouting at it and how space junk is threatening our future capabilities for space travel. Could there be life on one of Saturn's moons? How much power could you collect from all the lightning on Earth? Why do books have book-smell? Why is 10 per cent of the Earth's land area prone to sinkholes? Why are some people chronically late? What would happen if the Earth stopped spinning? Why do most people hardly remember anything from the first half-a-dozen years of their life? How close are we to the Artificial Uterus? Why do some songs turn into "earworms" and stick inside your brain? Why does your hotel room access card get wiped so easily? And is your home WiFi really spying on you?

The Overview Effect

Author: Frank White
Publisher: AIAA
ISBN: 9781563472602
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 340

Book Description
Using interviews with and writings by astronauts and cosmonauts, discusses how viewing the Earth from space and from the moon affect space explorers' perceptions of the world and humanity, and how those changes are likewise felt in contemporary society. The author views space exploration and eventual colonization as an inevitable step in the evolution of human society and consciousness, one which offers new perspectives on the problems facing us down here on Earth. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Interior Space: a Visual Exploration of the International Space Station

Author: Paolo Nespoli
Publisher: Damiani Limited
ISBN: 9788862087322
Category : Photography
Languages : en
Pages : 200

Book Description
Unseen images of the International Space Station, untenanted and eerie: the legacy of humanity's fragile foothold in space On November 2 2020, NASA celebrates the 20th anniversary of continuous human habitation in space of the International Space Station. In Interior Space, American photographer Roland Miller and Italian astronaut and photographer Paolo Nespoli offer an in-depth portrait of the ISS, creating amazing unpeopled images of the interior of the ISS for the first time. As internationally acclaimed scholars of space archaeology Alice Gorman and Justin St. P. Walsh write in their essays, the ISS speaks not only of who we are and will be, but also of who we were. In 2024 the ISS will be abandoned; in 2028 it will be destroyed. This book provides us with an eerie account of what will remain in the space after our passing. Italian-born astronaut Paolo Nespoli(born 1957) spent 313 days in space. After a career in the military, he earned a M.Sc. in Aerospace Engineering, then joined the European Space Agency spending time in Europe, the US and Russia. In 2007 he flew on the Space Shuttle and then, in 2010 to 2011 and 2017, he flew again to the International Space Station with the Russian Soyuz. He retired in 2018 from the astronaut corps launching a career as an international public speaker. Chicago-born photographer Roland Miller(born 1958) taught photography at Brevard Community College in Cocoa, Florida, for 14 years, where he visited many nearby NASA launch sites. He is the author of the acclaimed book Abandoned in Place: Preserving America's Space History, documenting deactivated and repurposed space launch and test facilities around the US. In 2017 he started the project Interior Space. His work is held at the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago and at the NASA Art Collection in Washington, DC.