This is the tale of the modern Space Age, detailing all the risks, rewards and rivalries that have fueled space exploration over the decades. Jump into a world of ambitious entrepreneurs and determined spacefaring nations, of secret spy satellites and espionage, of all the cooperative and competing interests vying for dominance in ways little known to the public. Written by an Italian aeronautical engineer with over thirty years of experience in government and private industry, this English translation explains how and why the game has fundamentally evolved and where it is headed next. Exploring such topics as GPS and cyberspace, the economics of private and public industry and the political motivations of emerging spacefaring powerhouses like China, this book is an engaging foray into the ongoing battle for our terrestrial home through extraterrestrial means.

An account of past, current, and future geopolitical trends in space exploration Explains the political and economic importance of Earth-related applications, including GPS and cyberspace Written by an aeronautical engineer with over 30 years of experience in public and private industry

Autorentext

Marcello Spagnulo is an aeronautical engineer. He has worked for thirty years in the space sector both in private industries and in government agencies, in Italy and abroad (Holland, France, Guyana). He has held various managerial positions in strategy and planning, business development, program management and aerospace engineering. Since 2009, he has published three books related to space, two of which published with Springer.

Inhalt

Chapter 1. The Space Race: Moondust.- Chapter 2. Rocket Science: Globalization and Missiles.- Chapter 3. Beyond the Movies: The Real War for Space We Never Saw on Screen.- Chapter 4. Rocket Man: From The Space Shuttle to the International Space Station.- Chapter 5. GPS: The Stellar Clock.- Chapter 6. The Technopolitics of Space: Between History and Realpolitik.- Chapter 7. Space Economy: A Business On the Launch Pad.- Chapter 8. Battlestar Galactica: The Space Cyberwar of the Future.- Chapter 9. Mars: Next Stop?