This book documents the development of missile and spacecraft guidance computers from the earliest efforts to the current Space Station and satellite onboard systems. This book developed from the author's presentation at the Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory in 2009 for the Workshop on Flight Software. The second and third editions were expanded with new material and references. The fourth edition updated the material to the state of the art in 2014, with discussions of...

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....

Pronounced RISK-Five, RISC-V is the latest implementation of the MIPS architecture, in an open source configuration. The project kicked off in 2010 at the University of California, Berkeley.It had been announced in 2018. Multiple companies now offer RISC-V chips, and the architecture is compatible with several FPGA's. The RISC-V architecture is making inroads on the popular ARM embedded architecture.There have been numerous space missions using the MIPS architecture. One of...

There is a brief review of computer architecture, binary math, and digital logic that you can skip, if you are familiar with these topics.The evolution of the 8-bit processors is a history of the advance of semiconductor technology from the first transistors, to the breakthrough of multiple transistors on a chip, the integrated circuit. A lot of this happened when the “Silicon Valley” of northern California was mostly known for its citrus crops. The tools that made all this happen ...

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...

This book starts with the British Army's attempt to take Fort Duquesne (currentl day Pittsburgh). Along the way is Fort Cumberland, the staging area. The expedition went horribly wrong, with the British taking massive causalitys and loosing their payroll in gold. It has never been found. Those are the facts. This is historical fiction, exploring verious threads about what could have happened. The author is a native of Cumberland, Maryland, the location of Fort Cumberland. This is a tale of...

The Town of Lonaconing was located centrally in the Georges Creek Valley, between Frostburg at the north, and Westernport at the south. Both towns at the extremes had rail junctions. There were plans to extend the canal through Westernport. Lonaconing became the largest among the dozen or so towns along the Georges Creek, serving as a manufacturing center, a home for companies and miners, and a major retail center. Today Lonaconing is a town of some 1,200, still the largest among the Georg...

This book is an overview of the Civil War ironclads and other ships that changed Naval Warfare forever. It focuses mainly on those ships designed and deployed on inland rivers.Another topic is that of Union and Confederate submarines. The most popular sub was the CSS Hunley, which sank a Union warship, but never returned to base. In fact, the North and the South produced and deployed dozens of different submarine designs.

This book discusses some of the computers I had direct hands-on experience with. It covers both hardware and software.The author's first computer experience was on a Bendix G-20 mainframe, a 32-bit machine, using the Algol language. His first assembly language was on an IBM S/360 mainframe, specifically the Model 67 variant, with virtual memory. He went on to program the Univac 1108 series mainframe (a 1's complement machine), the DEC PDP-8, 9, 10, and 11, the Bendix G-15, the Athe...

The ARM processor has come a long way from an obscure British microprocessor of the 1980's to being the dominant basis for the current generation of smart phones, and tablet computers, as well as its use in space They are also in television set-top boxes, routers, and embedded applications. The ARM architecture units represent the highest volume of 32-bit processors being shipped, as of this writing.ARM's can be found on space missions, most likely in Cubesats, but also on the ISS....

This is a book on energy storage. Most electrical energy is AC, and is used when generated. Direct current is stored in battery, but there is no such things as an AC battery. There are other ways to store the energy. Solar cells only produce electricity during the day, and we might need the energy at night. Hydro power system generate power when there is a sufficient amount of water flow. Nuclear plants generate power as needed. Power from geothermal wells is generally available 24x7.

This book will discuss the exploration of the four largest planets in our solar system, all located beyond the orbit of Mars. The first two, Jupiter and Saturn are termed the Gas Giants, and the next two, Neptune and Uranus, are the Ice Giants.Each has an extensive set of moons, and a ring system. Each is unique in many ways. They have been explored extensively, and more information is gained every day about their composition and behavior. It's thought that some of the larger moons...