Space Invaders: How Robotic Spacecraft Explore the Solar System

320 Pages·2007·19.616 MB·English

by  Michel van Pelt (auth.)

SPACE INVADERS
HOW ROBOTIC SPACECRAFT
EXPLORE THE SOLAR SYSTEM
Michel van Pelt
C
Copernicus Books
AnImprintofSpringerScience+BusinessMedia
InAssociationwith
Praxis Publishing Ltd
© 2007PraxisPublishing, Ltd.
Allrights reserved. No part ofthis publicationmay be
reproduced,storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmit
ted, inanyform or byanymeans,electronic,mechani
cal,photocopying,recording,orotherwise,withoutthe
prior writtenpermission ofthe publisher.
Published inthe United States byCopernicus Books,
animprint of SpringerScience+BusinessMedia.
Copernicus Books
SpringerScience+Business Media
233 SpringStreet
NewYork,NY10013
www.springer.com
Libraryof Congress Control Number:
2006932969
Manufacturedinthe United States of America.
Printed onacid-freepaper.
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
ISBN-10:0-387-33232-4
ISBN-13:978-0-387-33232-1
To Stefania,
whoflies me to the Moon and
lets me play among the stars
PREFACE Xl
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1
From the Ground Up 3
Rockets and Satellites 4
To the Moon 15
HumansversusRobots 18
CHAPTER 2: ASPACE ROBOT IS BORN 23
Scientific Conception 25
Proving Technology 33
The PoliticalPush 36
Paper Spacecraft 38
It'sJust a Phase I'm Going Through 48
CHAPTER 3: ANATOMY OF ASPACE PROBE 53
Bits and Pieces 55
Power 57
Vll
Contents
Communication 65
Structures 70
Thermal Control 73
Attitude Control 77
Propulsion 86
Data Handling 89
Mechanisms 93
The Kidnap ofLuna 1 95
CHAPTER4: BUILDING AND TESTING 97
The SpacecraftGarage 97
Keep it Clean 100
Planetary Protection 102
Shake, Rattle 'n' Roll 108
Shaken, not stirred 110
Canned space 112
Antenna testing 112
Specialcases 113
Breaking the software 114
CHAPTER 5: INSTRUMENTS OFSCIENCE 115
The More we Learn, the More we Don't Know 116
Let's get Physical 118
It's All in the Data 121
Many Eyes 122
Visiblelight instruments 123
There is more than meets the eye 126
Messenger's Instruments 129
Roving Around 132
Diving through an Atmosphere 140
Primeval soup 142
Going down 142
CHAPTER 6: LAUNCH 149
On the Road 149
Spaceports 150
Preparing for Launch 153
Up and Away 156
Rockets 159
Orbits 162
Vlll
Contents
CHAPTER 7: DISTANT DESTINATIONS 167
To the Moon 170
The firstvisits 170
Preparing for Apollo 172
Robot rovers 175
Modern missions 176
A new Moon 177
Unromantic Venus 179
Greenhouse nightmare 179
Into the unknown 180
Magellan 186
Venus Express 189
Mars 190
Stumbling toward Mars 192
Viking invasion 193
Disaster strikes 195
Return to the red planet 196
Mercury, a Scorched Planet 202
GiantJupiter 204
Saturn 210
The Outer Giants: Uranus and Neptune 217
The Sun 218
Asteroids and Comets, the Building Blocks of
the Solar System 223
Attack from outer space 223
Thawing ice balls 229
Never Finished 235
CHAPTER 8: DEATH OF ASPACECRAFT 237
Down to Earth 238
In a Blaze ofGlory 240
SavingSOHO 243
Hope is Lost 245
Near Eros 246
CHAPTER 9: ABRIGHT FUTURE 249
Faster, Better and Cheaper? 251
Going Commercial 252
Future Launchers 256
Solar Sailing 262
Nuclear Energy 265
IX
Contents
Working Together 266
Going for aWalk 267
Flying 270
Microbots 272
Beyond the Solar System 276
CHAPTER 10: ONLYJUST BEGINNING 281
GLOSSARY 285
BIBLIOGRAPHY 297
INDEX 305
x
Contrary to popularbelief,Neil ArmstrongandBuzzAldrin were not the
firstto landon the Moon.ItwasLuna2,arobotic spaceprobe the sizeofa
largebeachball,which arrivedthere 10yearsearlier.Firstto reachanother
planet, firstto land on Mars and Venus, first to touch an asteroid, first to
seethe outerplanetscloseup, firstto land on the moon ofanother planet;
the listofrobotic spaceachievementsislong andimpressive.Infact,robots
ventured into space even before robot assemblers took over the car
factories and robot vacuum cleaners and robodogs were let loose in our
houses.
Until the 1950s, before the start ofthe Space Age, space exploration
was envisioned to become the domain of bold heroes in spacesuits,
shooting through the void in elegant rocketships. Buck Rogers and his
colleagueswere the public's stereotypesofspaceexplorers, and even more
scientific books and artworks focused on manned capsules, spaceplanes,
space stations, and planetary bases. No one seemed to foresee that the
exploration of space would actually become the domain of unmanned
machines. At a fraction of the costs of manned spacecraft, automatic
probes became the true explorers ofthe SolarSystem.
Xl