This book covers the topic of Astronomy in the context of STEM Education. Astronomy is the branch of Science that deals with other objects in the Universe. At night, we can see other stars, the moon, sometimes planets, and, if we are lucky, comets. Astronomy dates back far in the history of mankind, starting with observations of the sky, and the development of theories of what it all meant, and how it all worked. The initial assumption was that the Earth was the center of the Universe, and...

This book covers the topic of weather in space, which is defined by our Sun. It interacts with our atmosphere and magnetic field (actually the atmosphere and magnetic fields (if any) of all the planets and moons), to influence our weather. It can impact our technology as well.The study of Space Weather depends on space physics. All of our Space Weather originates with the Sun. The first serious study's of the subject were undertaken in the International Geophysical Year, in 1957. A...

This book is targeted to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) educators and administrators. It is intended to show how robots in particular, and engineering projects in general can be applied to their STEM program. It is a train-the-trainer document, pointing out sources of information and support to the teaching professional who knows how to present the material at the appropriate level.This book covers the topic of small mobile robotic sensor platforms for env...

In the last 11 years, a lot has changed in this field. That's to be expected in a technology that is driven by Moore's Law, where complexity doubles every 18 months or so. So we have a factor of 7 or so, but actually the rate of change is increasing.Where we are today is machines built with multiple cores on one chip, each core being a complete computer. The same communication schemes discussed in this book are used, with the same trade-off's, shared memory or communication channel....

This book discusses the application of Cubesat Clusters, Constellations, and Swarms in the exploration of the solar systems. This includes the Sun, the 8 primary planets and Pluto, many moons, the asteroid belt, comets, the ring systems of the four gas giants, and comets. There is a lot to explore. U.S. Spacecraft have been to all of the planets in the solar system. Although the planets (and Pluto) have been visited by spacecraft, Earth's moon has been somewhat explored, and many of the ot...

The story of the Saturn rocket is the story of rocket development, started in Germany, and lasting through World War-II. It was then continued both in the United States and the then-Soviet Union by members from the German teams. The driver was now not war, but political and world prestige. The story of the Saturn-V moon rocket starts with the V-2 missile development and continues through the Redstone, Jupiter, and the Saturn-1 rockets. The Saturn-1/Pegasus missions taught us a lot about th...

This book introduces and formalizes the topic of using increasingly capable autonomous robotic explorers on our home planet. We have long used robotic spacecraft to explore space, our moon, the other planets of our solar system, and their moons. At least one of our spacecraft, Voyager, has left the solar system, and is still returning data on interstellar space. Unmanned explorers precede human ventures into space, and have been to many more distant locations than we have.Our own p...

The Nineteenth Century saw a period of rapid technology development, as steam power was applied to many aspects of manufacturing and transportation. People’s lives became better, old things could be done more cheaply or faster, and new things were enabled. At the same time, machinery displaced jobs and switched the economy from a focus on agriculture to a new focus on manufacturing. A new age was being born, and birth involves pain, disruption, and change. The discovery of copious amounts ...

This book is about the Personal Robots from the 1980's that inspired hopes for the future. This was triggered, in part, by the robots of the Star War series. R2D2 was based on the three service droids of the early Science Fiction movie, Silent Running. They were named Huey, Louie, and Dewey. At the same time, personal computers were emerging as affordable and easier to use. The excitement and the technology reached a tipping point. Before this time, robotics mainly meant large hydraulic un...

This book describes two men whose careers intersected at the Mount Savage Locomotive Works in Western Maryland. T.H. Paul was Master Mechanic of the Works but left to form his own business based in Frostburg. He focused on narrow gauge locomotives. His break with the Cumberland & Pennsylvania Railroad, owner of the Mount Savage Shops, was amicable. He sent business to Mount Savage, and they sent him business concerning narrow gauge and mining equipment. Its was a win-win. When the Mount Sa...

This book discusses the subject of lava tubes on Earth, the Moon and Mars, and their potential applications for habitats and planetary settlements. To implement this, we need robotic explorers that can scout the lava tubes. This book will discuss an approach for that, using Cube-Xs, which are standardized architectures, based on the Cubesat model. Lava tubes are primary caves, not formed from the erosion of softer rock. We will discuss autonomous exploration of the Lava tubes by multiple u...

As we stretch our exploration of our solar system, it gets much more challenging. This is due to the distances involved, and the vast diversity of the places we are visiting. W have issues of power and communication as we reach further out to our neighbors. We are seeking answers to questions such as, are we alone here? Can we live here? Are there materials we can use?Due both to their numbers and their diversity, exploration of the moons of Jupiter and Saturn will be costly and di...