The book introduces readers to the concept of weightlessness and microgravity, and presents several examples of microgravity research in fluid physics, the material sciences and human physiology. Further, it explains a range of basic physical concepts (inertia, reference frames, mass and weight, accelerations, gravitation and weightiness, free fall, trajectories, and platforms for microgravity research) in simple terms. The last section addresses the physiological effects of weightlessness...

This book introduces the Martian simulations of The Mars Society, the first one installed on Devon Island, an uninhabited island in the Canadian Arctic, well within the polar circle, and the second in the desert of Utah, several hundreds of kilometers South of Salt Lake City. The book is based on the diaries held during the simulations, by Vladimir Pletser, a physicist-engineer, who was selected to participate in these simulations. It relates the details of everyday life in these Martian h...

This textbook introduces readers to the detailed and methodical resolution of classical and more recent problems in analytical mechanics. This valuable learning tool includes worked examples and 40 exercises with step-by-step solutions, carefully chosen for their importance in classical, celestial and quantum mechanics.The collection comprises six chapters, offering essential exercises on: (1) Lagrange Equations; (2) Hamilton Equations; (3) the First Integral and Variational Princi...

Le titre fait référence à la phrase de Tsiolkovsky, l'érudit russe du début du XXème siècle, « La Terre est le berceau de l'humanité, mais personne ne reste jamais longtemps au berceau ».L'ouvrage se présente comme une succession de cartes blanches ayant pour thème le sens de l'exploration, et en particulier de l'exploration spatiale.L'idée est de fournir un panel de réponses à la question suivante : les humains ont-ils réellement ce besoin, cette envie d'explorer ? Si oui, à...