Cover of 4th Edition Those of you who have perused the pages of this blog may have noticed that I am also involved in another book, apart from How Spacecraft Fly, which is a technical textbook called Spacecraft Systems Engineering (SSE) published by Wiley. SSE is now in 4th Edition and is soon to be translated into Russian and Chinese. In the context of Wiley’s business, as a publisher of textbooks, it is considered to be a ‘best seller’. But (unfortunately) this does not mean it sells millions like Harry Potter – so I’m not going to be a millionaire any time soon. However, it does sell globally in the thousands each year.
I’ve been involved in SSE for the 3rd and 4th Editions as principal editor and coauthor – the book has about 700 pages so I haven’t written the whole lot. I share the authorship with a merry band of about a dozen technical experts (to whom I am very grateful), so that we can cover the engineering design of spacecraft at a level which is hopefully useful to people involved in the process. So unless you like equations, or maybe you’re having trouble sleeping (!), you shouldn’t consider buying a copy. It also received an award for scientific literature, which required me to make a very enjoyable trip to Vancouver in 2004.
I’ve been involved in SSE for the 3rd and 4th Editions as principal editor and coauthor – the book has about 700 pages so I haven’t written the whole lot. I share the authorship with a merry band of about a dozen technical experts (to whom I am very grateful), so that we can cover the engineering design of spacecraft at a level which is hopefully useful to people involved in the process. So unless you like equations, or maybe you’re having trouble sleeping (!), you shouldn’t consider buying a copy. It also received an award for scientific literature, which required me to make a very enjoyable trip to Vancouver in 2004.
3rd Edition As the main editor, I enjoy the opportunity to provide input on the matter of book covers, and for the current edition we chose a rather splendid depiction of the Rosetta spacecraft. Remember – this was 2011, and we had no idea whether the ambitious and risky mission envisaged for this spacecraft would be achieved. So the question – “would we have a failed spacecraft mission on the cover, come 2014?” – did cross our minds. However, recent history has affirmed our choice as a good one, thank heavens. Similarly the 3rd Edition cover (published in 2003) featured an event not due to take place until July 2004 – the Saturn orbit insertion burn of Cassini – an NASA/ESA mission. Again would the event depicted be successful? Fortunately, once again, the answer was ‘yes’!
If SSE goes to 5th edition, upon which mission should we bestow a good omen by featuring it on the cover?!
If SSE goes to 5th edition, upon which mission should we bestow a good omen by featuring it on the cover?!
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