Showing results for "peter westwick"

On a moonless night in January 1991, a dozen U.S. aircraft appeared in the skies over Baghdad. To the Iraqi air defenses, the planes seemed to come from nowhere. Their angular shape, making them look like flying origami, rendered them virtually undetectable. Each aircraft was more than 60 feet in length and with a wingspan of 40 feet, yet its radar footprint was the size of a ball bearing. Here was the first extensive combat application of Stealth technology. And it was devastating. Peter ...

"Westwick's analysis explains why the Jet Propulsion Lab behaved as it did, what forces shaped it, and what impact it had on its external environment." —Alex Roland, Duke UniversityIn the decades since the mid-1970s, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, has led the quest to explore the farthest reaches of the solar system. JPL spacecraft—Voyager, Magellan, Galileo, the Mars rovers, and others—have brought the planets into close view. JPL satellite...

A definitive and highly readable history of surfing and the cultural, political, economic, and environmental consequences of its evolution from a sport of Hawaiian kings and queens to a billion-dollar worldwide industryDespite its rebellious, outlaw reputation, or perhaps because of it, surfing occupies a central place in the American – and global – imagination, embodying the tension between romantic counterculture ideals and middle-class values, between an individ...

On a moonless night in January 1991, a dozen US aircraft appeared in the skies over Baghdad. To the Iraqi air defenses, the planes seemed to come from nowhere. Each aircraft was more than sixty feet in length and with a wingspan of forty feet, yet its radar footprint was the size of a ball bearing. Here was the first extensive combat application of Stealth technology. And it was devastating.Radar has been in use since the 1930s and was essential to the Allies in World War II, when ...

A thought-provoking and humorous collection on NASA and the future of space travel.Neil deGrasse Tyson is a rare breed of astrophysicist, one who can speak as easily and brilliantly with popular audiences as with professional scientists. Now that NASA has put human space flight effectively on hold—with a five- or possibly ten-year delay until the next launch of astronauts from U.S. soil—Tyson’s views on the future of space travel and America’s role in that future are especially tim...

The first-ever inside look at DARPA—the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency—the maverick and controversial group whose futuristic work has had amazing civilian and military applications, from the Internet to GPS to driverless carsAmerica's greatest idea factory isn't Bell Labs, Silicon Valley, or MIT's Media Lab. It's the secretive, Pentagon-led agency known as DARPA. Founded by Eisenhower in response to Sputnik and the Soviet space program, DARPA mixes military officers with...

From an engineer and futurist, an impassioned account of technological stagnation since the 1970s and an imaginative blueprint for a richer, more abundant future.The science fiction of the 1960s promised us a future remade by technological innovation. We’d vacation in geodesic domes on Mars, have meaningful conversations with computers, and drop our children off at school in flying cars. Fast-forward 60 years, and we’re still stuck in traffic in gas-guzzling sedans...

“Bob Zubrin really, nearly alone, changed our thinking on this issue.”—Carl Sagan, The Denver PostIf you ever daydream about space travel and human space flight—or hope to one day rove the Red Planet alongside Curiosity—then MARS DIRECT will teach you how we can get thereThe human race is at a crossroads. In the coming decades, we will make decisions regarding our human spaceflight program that will lead to one of two familiar futu...

With interviews from Chris Hadfield and Marc Garneau, the tale of Canada’s involvement in international space exploration from the 1960s to the present dayCanada is a small but mighty power in space exploration. After providing the Canadarm robotic arm for the space shuttle in 1981, Canada received an invitation to start an astronaut program — a program that quickly let its people accumulate skill and prestige. Canadian astronauts have since commanded the Internati...

"Skillfully interweaving technical details and fascinating personalities, Johnson tells the history of systems management in the U.S. and Europe." —Howard McCurdy, author of Space and the American ImaginationWinner of the Emme Award for Astronautical Literature from the American Astronautical SocietyHow does one go about organizing something as complicated as a strategic-missile or space-exploration program? Stephen B. Johnson here e...

A history of exploration through eleven objects from the Air and Space Museum: "Takes you behind the scenes with firsthand stories and rare photos." —William F. Readdy, former NASA astronaut and Space Shuttle commanderThroughout human history, across cultures and landscapes, countless individuals have gazed with wonder in the same direction: upward. Getting to space was no easy task, and our quest to further explore the universe, to understand the impossibly vast he...

Veteran space journalist digs into the science and technology--past, present, and future--central to our explorations of Earth's only satellite, the space destination most hotly pursued today.In these rich pages, veteran science journalist Leonard David explores the moon in all its facets, from ancient myth to future "Moon Village" plans. Illustrating his text with maps, graphics, and photographs, David offers inside information about how the United States, allies and competitors, ...