Space Systems Failures: Disasters and Rescues of Satellites, Rocket and Space Probes (Springer Praxis Books) 2005th Edition by David M. Harland (PDF)

Description

The very first book on space systems failures written from an engineering perspective. Focuses on the causes of the failures and discusses how the engineering knowledge base has been enhanced by the lessons learned. Discusses non-fatal anomalies which do not affect the ultimate success of a mission, but which are failures nevertheless. Describes engineering aspects of the spacecraft, making this a valuable complementary reference work to conventional engineering texts.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐This book examines failures related to space exploration in general. It is thorough, much more than I expected. A bit depressing, but it provides invaluable insight into the science, art and craft of building and launching satellites.The book is divided in two quite different parts: launchers and satellites, with a special chapter on repairs undertaken from the space shuttle.The launcher part is organized by launchers types, and has a very good objective of putting things in historical perspective, a very good point. The satellite part is organized by failures types. This is a wise way to do in this case.There is not much to do in case of problems on a launcher apart from doing fault analysis, with corrections to be applied to the next launches. This is quite different and much more interesting with problems on satellites or probes.They are examples of missions which looked like total write-offs being rescued by the skills and intelligence of engineers using treasures of imagination and ingenuity to rescue a mission, sometimes exceeding the objectives planned originally for the mission. ( Hipparcos, Deep Space 1, etc ) This makes the reading of this section very interesting, sometimes feeling like a thriller.The real added value of this book is the description of the incredible ingenuity applied by engineers and operators to solve the problems when a satellite fails in orbit, therefore out of physical reach. This is the best part and shows that in general, human being are better to adapt to given situations and solve problems imposed on them than being able to predict them and act accordingly beforehand.This is proven by the number of incredibly stupid faults described in the book, from the decimal point misplaced, to the calculations made in imperial units instead of metric, leading sometimes to billion size dollars bills.I regret that some important recap tables (page 157) and some figures are not better printed or be made more readable. Also a good improvement would be to put a success/failures table at the end of each section covering a given launcher.Also, I regret the absence of a simple tutorial chapter explaining the basics of rocket and satellite event recording and telemetry, the amount and nature of the parameters recorded, the various captors and a basic description of the procedures of post-mortem analysis. This would help appreciate even more the reading of the book.Patrick Haubrechts Geneva Switzerland

⭐Some reviewers are complaining that this book doesn’t have “enough detail.” But bear in mind that the title has a LOT of ground to cover — there’s no shortage of incidents in it. So unless you’re looking for a “doorstop” book, you have to expect that any given failure will / can get only so much coverage.I’d recommend you look at this as an encyclopedia of aerospace failures. You can go deeper with some work online, but this will give you plenty of material at an overview level.

⭐… by which I mean a small amount of information about each of a large number of facts, with very little analysis or insight. And, just about as interesting to read as chapter after chapter of encyclopedia entries.Looking at each chapter’s bibliography, you can tell that the authors spent a lot of time poring over back issues of Aviation Week and other publications, so that might save you some time if you are researching a specific failure. And they do have a very extensive collection of failures – this is not just Apollo 13 and Ariane 5.I was surprised to find mention (and a small amount of detail) of some of the relatively minor programs I have been involved with over the last 15 years or so. However, the visually spectacular failure of the Conestoga launch vehicle (certainly in the category of “minor players”) wasn’t covered, so this can’t be said to be a definitive collection of every launch or spacecraft failure.If you want to know how failures are analyzed post-mortem, or what processes and procedures are put in place to learn from those mistakes, you won’t find it here. This is really just a diary of the timeline of failures in the Space Age.

⭐Lessons learned from past missions are extremely useful. This is an easy read, and a valuable addition to the collection of any engineer, in any discipline.

⭐Engaging and interesting. Not your average textbook!

⭐This is an absolutely fascinating book. It is the story of learning from failures. In the history of the space programs there have been some 2,500 failures of one kind or another.I can well remember the first American attempt to launch a satellite using the Vanguard rocket. It was a beautiful rocket. It fired up, rose a few feet, then still perfectly balanced came back down and blew up spectacularly. Then there was the European Mars lander, Beagle 2, the problems with the Hubble Space Telescope, and of course Challenger.Broken into two main parts, the first half of the book is on failures in the Launch Vehicles. The second half goes into the failures in the satellites and space probes. The surprising thing about all these failures is the ability of the engineers to often work around the failures and still get some value out of the mission.It seems the Murphy really rules space activities. Everything has happened from dropping satellites on the floor, to soaking them in water through a hole in the roof, pieces left out, screws tightened to tightly, or not tight enough, hundreds of things.The rockets are designed at the limit of everything to reduce weight, increase performance. The spacecraft have to operate in environments impossible to test on earth. Adding redundancy to a space craft reduces the weight/space available for mission payload.Fascinating book

⭐Bel libro per chi è appassionato di spazio e di sistemi spaziali. Consigliato!

⭐Not found.

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