Spacecraft Systems Engineering, 4th Edition

Bought this for my son during his A-levels as he wanted to pursue aerospace engineering at university. It is a brilliant book, but not for beginners. Think college level textbook. That said, my son started digging into equations and systems he previously didn't even know existed. He's calling it a 'forever on my bookshelf' book. I can dig that. If you or a loved one is interested in spacecraft and engineering, I can't recommend this highly enough.

It is a good space systems manual

I'm reviewing this book as a system engineer working on the next generation of european launchers. I bought it to learn more about the requirements that the payload put on the launcher trajectory and required performances. The book covers almost all aspects involved in the design of a spacecraft and so is really good for someone who wants to know all the disciplines which are put to work. But, it also means that the book can only brush all those topics without diving in all the technical details. It must be considered as a guidebook, helping you remember all the steps to take into account while working on a design and not a jack of all trade book. Also, I've found some errors but didn't check yet if there is an offical correction update. So, TL;DR, if you are a student on the subject or, like me, someone who wants to know more about this subject, go for it. If you are into the business, stay with multiple, more advanced book each covering a single topic unless you want a "reminder".

tackles many issues, with each issue in a separate and (most important) stand-alone chapter. Very good for introduction. Buy it!

Everything you need to learn and more!

gr8

This is quite a good introductory book to this topic. However, as you would expect from a book that covers such a wide topic, it sometime suffers from superficial explanations. I am only really qualified to critique topics covering physics and telecommunications, but there I can see some weak and incomplete descriptions. This is rescued by each chapter having copious references so that you can chase down any point that you don't understand. Another important point is that this book has twenty chapters with changing authors on each one. This leads to slightly uneven editing overall, but then means (presumably) that each chapter has an expert on that field writing it. Though this might sound negative, overall the book is very good, and the normally excellent descriptions covering a large topic (and copious references) provide a very interesting read.

Good deal on the set book for OU MSc F77 though if I'd known a legitimate eBook version was available in the course resources I wouldn't have bothered with the dead tree edition. But this is a book in desperate need of an update. The space shuttle isn't still flying, we have sent a spacecraft to Pluto and beyond and the discussions of electronics and computing belong in a history book not a current edition university text book

This is one of many sources I am investing in as reference for another body of writing. This piece of writing is top notch, expert technical writing. It is not exactly light reading but as a layman on space technology, it is also very easy for someone like myself to consume the subject matter. Solid quality writing with many diagrams and photos. Only started skimming through some sections but the table of contents and the breakdown of the sections covers all the broad areas you would expect from propulsion to Thermal Control, Telemetry, Electrical Power Systems, etc, in self-contained sections.

the material in the book covers every aspect of spacecraft. very informative with good references

Livre à peine reçu, je l'ai un peu parcouru, il a l'air très complet. Par contre la qualité de la reliure laisse un peu à désirer, pas sur qu'elle tienne la durée...

This was a very good book.

Manuale di riferimento per il sistemista di ambito spaziale. Tratta ogni sottosistema in maniera dettagliata. A causa spesso di una carenza nei tecnicismi, non è tuttavia un sostituto dello Smad per l'ingegnere spaziale, ma resta comunque un ottimo manuale col quale affiancarlo. Ottimo stato di consegna.