Books in the Springer Praxis Books series

This book produces convincing evidence that exploiting the potential of space could help solve many environmental and social issues affecting our planet, such as pollution, overcrowding, resource depletion and conflicts, economic inequality, social unrest, economic instability and unemployment.

This story of the Galileo spacecraft probe to Jupiter`s moon provides a unique understanding of the Galileo images of Europa, and examines in detail the physical setting that might sustain extra-terrestrial life in Europa's ocean and icy crust.

This book gives a new insight of Mars by adopting an original outline based on history rather than on subtopic (atmosphere, surface, interior). It focuses on the past and present evolution of Mars and also incorporates all the recent results from the space missions of Mars Express, Spirit and Opportunity.

This volume provides a comprehensive and thorough scientific analysis and documentation of deep-water coral reefs around the world, highlighting the general geological implications for the understanding of ancient coral and carbonate reefs.

Pulsars are rapidly spinning neutron stars, the collapsed cores of once massive stars that ended their lives as supernova explosions. In this book, Geoff McNamara explores the history, subsequent discovery and contemporary research into pulsar astronomy.

Until the Apollo-Soyuz flight of 1972, the Russian Space Program was shrouded in such complete secrecy that only rumors of failures (or catastrophes) reached the West.

Thisbook provides readers with a clear description of the types of lunar andinterplanetary trajectories, and how they influence satellite-system design. It helpsreaders gain an understanding of the driving subsystems of interplanetary andlunar satellites. The tables and graphs showing features of trajectories makethe book easy to understand.

This book explores the mechanics of star formation, the process by which matter pulls together and creates new structures.

The very first book on space systems failures written from an engineering perspective. Describes engineering aspects of the spacecraft, making this a valuable complementary reference work to conventional engineering texts.

This book tells the story of Apollo 11 and dispels the myth that NASA faked the moon landings. The author's impressive expertise and knowledge of the Moon landings shines through and seamlessly unites the myriad details of the mission.

Drawing on laboratory and farm studies, the book reviews in detail the current state-of-the-art scientific research knowledge of fish and crustacean nutrition, from larvae to juvenile fish, through to the final stages of harvesting.

In an expanding 2nd edition of How Apollo Flew to the Moon, David Woods tells the exciting story of how the resulting Apollo flights were conducted by following a virtual flight to the Moon and its exploration of the surface.

The technological marvel that facilitated the Apollo missions to the Moon was the on-board computer. He regularly lectures on the Apollo computer and related topics to diverse groups, from NASA's computer engineering conferences, the IEEE/ACM, computer festivals and university student groups.

This updated and expanded second edition of a much lauded work provides a current overview of the impacts of climate change on tropical forests.

The reality of sunlight-based sailing in space began in May 2010, and solar sail technology and science have continued to evolve rapidly through new space missions. It also discusses various sail systems that may use either sunlight or solar wind, and the design, fabrication and steering challenges associated with solar sails.

With climate change and deforestation, debris flows and debris avalanches have become the most significant landslide hazards in many countries. Matthias Jakob has worked on debris flow for over a decade and has had numerous papers published on the topic, as well as working as a consultant on debris flow for municipal and provincial governments.

This book explores intriguing cases in which astronomy has been used as a tool to solve mysteries from art, history, and literature. It clearly explains astronomical concepts with non-technical language and defines terms as needed for wide readership.

This book explores how the commercial suborbital industry is poised to develop into a viable market. It describes how suborbital vehicles operate, how research will be conducted in suborbital flight, and how commercial organizations will train astronauts.

Other religions could be practiced on distant worlds but nevertheless identify both Earth as a place and humankind as a species of singular spiritual religious importance, while some religions could be practiced equally well anywhere in the universe by any sentient beings.

Volcanoes have always fascinated scientists and the general public. This book provides state-of-the-art techniques for real-time volcano monitoring and analysis using space-borne data. The book fills a huge gap in the science of volcano remote sensing.

Written by one of the astronomers who 'lived the dream' of working there this book is a restrospectively expanded diary featuring the 'birth and long life' of what was a truely innovative telescope.

This book takes a new approach on teaching the subject by following the chain of measurement through atmosphere, imaging, detection, spectroscopy, timing and hypothesis testing. It covers all wavelengths: radio, infrared, optical, UV, X-ray, gamma-ray.

This is the eleventh volume in the series Light Scattering Reviews, devoted to current knowledge of light scattering problems and both experimental and theoretical research techniques related to their solution.

This book reveals the multi-generational process involved in humanity's first major scientific achievement, namely the discovery of modern physics, and examines the personal lives of six of the intellectual giants involved.

To create the exotic materials and technologies needed to make stargates and warp drives is the holy grail of advanced propulsion. The third part of the book - the most speculative - will examine the question: what physics is needed if we are to make wormholes and warp drives?

This book is the first to provide a comprehensive, readily understandable report on the European Space Agency's Gaia mission that will meet the needs of a general audience.

Examines each of these parameters in crucial depth and makes the argument that life forms we would recognize may be more common in our solar system than many assume. Considers exotic forms of life that would not have to rely on carbon as the basic chemical element, solar energy as the main energy source, or water as the primary solvent and the question of detecting bio- and geosignatures of such life forms, ranging from earth environments to deep space.Seeks an operational definition of life and investigate the realm of possibilities that nature offers to realize this very special state of matter. Avoids scientific jargon wherever possible to make this intrinsically interdisciplinary subject understandable to a broad range of readers.